M. Fily et al., COMPARISON OF IN-SITU AND LANDSAT THEMATIC MAPPER DERIVED SNOW GRAIN CHARACTERISTICS IN THE ALPS, Remote sensing of environment, 59(3), 1997, pp. 452-460
Two experiments were performed in April and December 1992 in the Frenc
h Alps, using simultaneous remote sensing and ground truth data at 11
different locations. The snow grain size and soot content were measure
d from samples collected in the field. The snow reflectance tons compu
ted from Landsat Thermatic Mapper (TM) data with and without atmospher
ic correction. Then the data were compared with theoretical results ob
tained from a bidirectional reflectance model. Most visible-channel si
gnals are affected by the pollutants in the snow. The near-infrared ch
annel signals are dependent on the grain size. For the near infrared c
hannel TM4, the optical grain size is close to the measured one, but t
he Landsat-derived snow reflectance is not accurate enough to allow an
inversion of the grain size from the reflectance. For the middle infr
ared channels TM5 and TM7, the computed optical grain size is very dif
ferent from the measured one, but a linear relation was found between
those different sizes for April and December data in spite of the very
different solar irradiance conditions. Using ratios between channels
instead of a single channel gives only a qualitative estimate of the g
rain size. (C)Elsevier Science Inc., 1997.