Reflectance of snow as measured in situ and from space in sub-arctic areas in Canada and Alaska

An effort is made to measure snow reflectance under different snow and surface conditions, as well as to improve current capabilities for measuring snow reflectance over large regions of space, on the basis of visible and near-IR measurements of clean and dirty snow near Yellowknife, Canada, using both a portable spectrometer and the Landsat TM. Similar measurements were acquired over snow-covered glaciers in Alaska. Visible reflectance of the dirty snow was 30 percent lower than for cleaner snow; the shapes of the reflectance curves were also flatter for the dirty snow. The shape of the reflectance curves and the anisotropic reflectance properties are more useful in differentiating snow type and moisture type than actual reflectances.