Average areal water equivalent of snow in a mountain basin using microwave and visible satellite data

Satellite microwave data were used to evaluate the average areal water equivalent of snow cover in the mountainous Rio Grande basin of Colorado. Areal water equivalent data for the basin were obtained from contoured values of point measurements and from zonal water volume values generated by a snowmelt runoff model. Comparison of these snow water equivalent values shows the model values to consistently exceed the contoured values, probably because of the narrow elevation range in the lower part of the basin where the point measurements are concentrated. A significant relationship between the difference in microwave brightness temperatures at two different wavelengths and a basin-wide average snow water equivalent value is obtained. The average water equivalent of the snow cover in the basin was derived from differences of the microwave brightness temperatures.