SNOW GRAIN SIZE ESTIMATION OF A SITE IN THE INDIAN HIMALAYAN REGION USING HYPERSPECTRAL REMOTE SENSING : AVIRIS-NG DATA

Data acquired from remote sensing of snow provides us information about its physical and non-physical properties such as grain size, albedo, depth, snow water equivalent (SWE). The estimation of snow grain size is quite essential apart from the regular snow class categorization. The ice absorption feature centered at lambda=1.03 mu m is typically known to be sensitive to the optically equivalent snow grain size. This work explores the applicability of Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-NG) hyperspectral data with electromagnetic spectrum spread from 380 nm - 2510 nm, at 5 nm band interval for estimation of grain size of near surface snow layer at the study site located near Patsio, Himachal Pradesh, India. Continuum absorption area, being inherently insensitive to the topography and known to deliver high signal to noise ratio as compared to absorption depth forms the basis of this study.