Monitoring of temporal-spatial variations of snow cover using the MODIS image (Case Study: Kurdistan Province)

Snow is a major source of water flow in each region. Therefore, knowledge of the spatial and temporal distribution of snow is essential for proper management of water resources in the region. Due to the severe physical conditions of mountainous environments, there is no permanent ground measurement for estimating snowfall resources and the establishment of a database. So, using remote sensing data to monitor snow level changes is very effective. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the temporal and spatial variations of snow cover in Kurdistan province using MODIS (MOD10A1, MOD10A2) snowstorm products in the 17-year period (2000-2017). Also, to evaluate the accuracy of the images and to analyze the relationship between snow changes with rainfall and temperature data, the synoptic station data of the study area was used. The results of the evaluation of the images with the weather station data show that these images have the appropriate accuracy in extracting snow surfaces. Also, the results of snow cover variations in Kurdistan province indicate that the highest snow cover area was in 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015, respectively, and the lowest in the years 2005, 2009, 2016 and 2017, with the largest snow cover area in December 2007 with a 2.8914 square km area. The study of snowfall variations in the province shows that the highest snowfall in the province from November to March was in the city of Diwandareh (November 2004, 59.57%) in Bijar (Feb. 2000, 25.93%) and Qorveh city (January 2017, 25.38%). Also, the analysis of the relationship between snow melting and climatic data shows that in the months of April and May rainfall increased and in June, with decreasing rainfall, the increasing trend of temperature caused the snow depths to melt in the province.