26-110 Observation and modeling of snow emissivity: application to the Trishna

Mission

Monitoring and predicting the evolution of snow surfaces is crucial for many applications such as weather forecasting, climate change studies, water resource management, mountain tourism, permafrost monitoring, and plant ecology. Snow plays a unique role in the Earth system due to its high reflectivity and low thermal conductivity. The energy exchanges between the snowpack and the atmosphere differ greatly from those on other land surfaces. Snow surface temperature responds more rapidly and with greater amplitude to small changes in the energy balance. In mountainous regions, slope orientation creates sharp contrasts in surface conditions, leading to temperature differences of up to 10°C between south- and north-facing slopes over short distances. The surface temperature in turn govern snow-cover evolution, particularly the production of meltwater in spring. However, observing surface temperature in mountains at relevant spatial and temporal scales is ...