Global snow signature in Ku-band backscatter

The authors present Ku-band backscatter signatures of snow for applications to global snow monitoring with NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) on the ADEOS satellite and the SeaWinds scatterometer on the QuikSCAT satellite. They carried out the 1999 Alaska Snow Experiment to study the relation between Ku-band backscatter and snow physical properties. The experimental results are applied to interpret backscatter data acquired by the satellite scatterometers. Results from NSCAT show regional patterns matching various global snow types, early snow melt conditions, and the snow event leading to the 1997 Flood of the Century in the U.S. midwest regions and in Manitoba of Canada. SeaWinds/QuikSCAT results reveal the expansion and retreat of global snow cover during the 2000 snow season. The anomalous warming event in late December 1999 was captured by the satellite data.