Icelandic snow cover characteristics derived from a gap-filled MODIS daily snow cover product

Abstract

Abstract. This study presents a spatio-temporal continuous data set for snow cover in Iceland based on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) from 2000 to 2018. Cloud cover and polar darkness are the main limiting factors for data availability of remotely sensed optical data at higher latitudes. In Iceland the average cloud cover is 75 % with some spatial variations, and polar darkness reduces data availability from the MODIS sensor from late November until mid January. In this study MODIS snow cover data were validated over Iceland with comparison to manned in situ observations and Landsat 7/8 and Sentinel 2 data. Overall a good agreement was found between in situ observed snow cover, with an average agreement of 0.925. Agreement of Landsat 7/8 and Sentinel 2 was found to be acceptable, with R2 values 0.96, 0.92 and 0.95, respectively, and in agreement with other studies. By applying daily data merging from Terra and Aqua and a temporal aggregation of 7 d, unclassified pixels were reduced from 75 % to 14 %. The remaining unclassified pixels after daily merging and temporal aggregation were removed with classification learners trained with classified data, pixel location, aspect and elevation. Various snow cover characteristic metrics were derived for each pixel such as snow cover duration, first and last snow-free dates, deviation and dynamics of snow cover and trends during the study period. On average the first snow-free date in Iceland is 27 June, with a standard deviation of 19.9 d. For the study period a trend of increasing snow cover duration was observed for all months except October and November. However, statistical testing of the trends indicated that there was only a significant trend in June.