Snow surface properties derived from PRISMA satellite data over the Nansen Ice Shelf (East Antarctica)

Abstract

In this paper, we made use of PRISMA imaging spectroscopy data for retrieving surface snow properties in the Nansen Ice Shelf (East Antarctica). PRISMA satellite mission has been launched in 2019 and it features 239 spectral bands covering the 400-2500 nm interval. These data are promising for cryospheric applications, since several snow and ice parameters can be derived from reflectance in the Visible Near InfraRed - Short Wave InfraRed (VNIR-SWIR) wavelength interval. Here we analyze, for the first time, PRISMA data collected in Antarctica. Our scene was acquired on December 2020 over the Nansen Ice Shelf (NIS). Using PRISMA data we estimated various snow parameters (effective grain diameter, snow specific surface area, snow spectral and broadband albedo, bottom of atmosphere snow reflectance, type of impurities in snow and their concentration), and we compared them with data presented in the scientific literature.

Estimating Atmospheric Dust Pollutants Content Deposited on Snow Surfaces From In Situ Spectral Reflectance Measurements and Satellite Data

“…The technique proposed by Kokhanovsky et al [31] relating the snow reflectance and dust load in snow is based on the full physics approach and does not rely on established correlations between the reflectance and dust load. This approach comprehensively considers the observation geometry [31,32]. The retrieval technique is based on the principle that the snow reflectance decreases with wavelength in the visible range in the case of polluted snow, while the reflectance remains almost constant in the visible range in the case of clean snow surfaces.…”

“…Therefore, the application of largescale satellite remote sensing observations should be investigated, and the spatial validity of dust load snow parameters derived from remote sensing data should be assessed. Kokhanovksy et al [32] achieved the first steps toward this objective by utilizing high-spectral resolution Hyperspectral Precursor of the Application Mission or PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa (PRISMA) imaging spectroscopy data to retrieve multiple surface snow optical property parameters in the Nansen Ice Shelf and compared them to literature data.…”

Evaluation of PRISMA products over snow in the Alps and Antarctica

“…The Antarctic campaign was conducted during the XXXVIII Italian expedition in Antarctica. We selected a snow covered flat area (coordinates: 74° 45' 20" S 163° 27' 26" E) on the Nansen Ice Shelf that has been recently investigated with PRISMA (Kokhanovsky et al, 2022) to retrieve optical properties of snow. The site is located at 75 m asl and it is strongly impacted by katabatic wind.…”

“…Future global observation programs include the Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment (CHIME) led by the European Space Agency (ESA) (Nieke & Rast, 2018) and NASA's Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) (Lee et al, 2022). With the launch of PRISMA (April 2019), new opportunities for cryosphere monitoring were opened, as for example for mapping glacier ice surface properties on the Greenland Ice Sheet (Bohn et al, 2022), and for deriving snow properties in Antarctica (Kokhanovsky et al, 2022).…”

Using PRISMA Hyperspectral Data for Land Cover Classification with Artificial Intelligence Support

“…The literature on the use of PRISMA data, particularly in the field of land cover classification, is still limited. Most of the research shows the potential of PRISMA data for specific purposes, such as forest conservation with wildfire fuel mapping [28] or fire detection [29], geological applications [30], cryospheric applications [31], urban surface detection [32], and mapping methane point emissions [33]. There are also interesting studies in the agricultural field dealing with specific crop or vegetation type discrimination [34][35][36][37].…”