Estimating snow cover area in south of Turkey using the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) form MODIS Satellite Images

Abstract

Snow and Ice–cover area information is important for a wide variety of scientific climate studies, water source and management applications. The NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite, provides improved capabilities to observe snow-ice coverarea from space and has been successfully using a Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) methodes, This technique is the same procedure for the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), along with threshold tests, to provide global, automated binary maps of snow cover. The NDSI is a spectral band ratio that takes advantage of the spectral differences of snow in short-wave infrared and visible. MODIS spectral bands to identify snow versus other features in a scene. This methodes has evaluated whether there is a “signal” in the NDSI that could be used to estimate the area of snow satellite images within a 500 m MODIS pixel, the percentage of snow cover was calculated for 500 m cells. Snow cover area in the head water sourse of the rivers can be useful to estimating the amount and the quantity of the water for the rivers. The south of Turkey area have the basin of the two rivers (Tigris and Euphrates). The main fresh water sorce to Syria and Iraq.

Assessment the Impact of Climate Changes on Snow Cover Area Using Landsat Data in Sulaymaniyah City, Iraq

“…A study was conducted to detect the snow cover in the regions of northern Iraq (Sulaymaniyah), western Iran (Kermanshah), and parts of Turkey, where the NDSI algorithm gave good results in separating the snow cover from clouds and other features, based on a study of [14]One researcher examine whether partial snow cover estimates can be improved to estimate snow area for headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The results showed that climate change has a negative impact on the Middle East region and there is a change in the amounts of snowfall in southern Turkey and northern Iraq, in the first three months of the year, between 2014 and 2016 [15]. Found out that the threshold value of NDSI > 0.4 was used to indicate snow coverage in Seyhan city in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey.…”