Remote sensing of snow using active and passive microwave systems

雪和冰川融化为世界六分之一以上的人口提供了水，但观测到的变化和模型对融雪供应的预测表明，到2050年，加拿大和欧亚大陆部分地区未来的水需求将面临融雪径流无法满足的风险（Mankin et al., 2015）。雪对商业活动也很重要。例如，不列颠哥伦比亚省2012- 2013年的滑雪产业收入为13亿美元，占该省全年旅游活动的9%。然而，降雪也带来了巨大的经济成本。春季快速融雪带来的洪水带来的危害也可能是毁灭性的。例如，2013年发生在南萨斯喀彻温省和埃尔克河流域的洪水预计损失超过60亿美元（Pomeroy et al. 2015），使其成为加拿大近现代历史上损失最大的自然灾害之一。虽然积雪是一种重要的资源，但随着全球变暖，冬季降雪季节的变化，积雪的管理变得越来越具有挑战性。例如，雪季缩短，平均融雪日期提前（Derksen和Brown， 2012）。这些变化影响了依靠融雪径流的地区的滑雪业、食品生产和水力发电。

Snow and glacier melt provide water for more than one sixth of the world’s population yet observed changes and model predictions of snowmelt supply suggest that by 2050 future water demands in several parts of Canada and Eurasia are at risk of not being met by snow melt runoff (Mankin et al., 2015). Snow is also important for business activities. For example, the British Columbia ski industry revenue for 2012-13 was $1.3 billion which represents 9% of all annual provincial tourism activity. Yet snow also attracts significant economic costs. Hazards created by flooding from rapid spring snowmelt can also be devastating. For example, the recent 2013 flood in the South Saskatchewan and Elk river basins have been projected to cost in excess of $6 billion (Pomeroy et al. 2015), making it one of the costliest natural disasters in recent Canadian history. While snow accumulation is an important resource, its management is becoming increasingly challenging as the winter snow season regime changes with global warming. For example, the snow season is shortening with the average snow melt date shifting earlier in the season (Derksen and Brown, 2012). Changes impact the ski industry, food production and the hydroelectric power generation in regions that rely on snowmelt runoff.