Remote sensing of snow using active and passive microwave systems

雪和冰川融化为世界上六分之一以上的人口提供了水，但观察到的变化和对雪融化供应的模型预测表明，到2050年，加拿大和欧亚大陆几个地区未来的水需求有可能无法通过雪融化径流得到满足（Mankin等人，2015年）。雪对商业活动也很重要。例如，不列颠哥伦比亚省2012-13年度滑雪产业收入为13亿加元，占全省年度旅游活动的9%。然而，降雪也带来了巨大的经济成本。春季积雪迅速融化引发的洪水也可能是毁灭性的。例如，2013年南萨斯喀彻温省和埃尔克河流域的洪水预计将造成超过60亿美元的损失（Pomeroy等人，2015年），使其成为加拿大近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，冬季雪季状况发生变化，积雪管理变得越来越具有挑战性。例如，雪季正在缩短，平均雪融化日期在季节中提前（Derksen和Brown，2012）。这些变化影响到滑雪业、粮食生产和依赖融雪径流的地区的水力发电。

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.