Mapping seasonal snow melting in Karakoram using SAR and topographic data

Li, Shiyi; Huang, Lanqing; Bernhard, Philipp; Hajnsek, Irena

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1621-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1621-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1621-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 4

Research article

|

24 Apr 2025

Research article |

| 24 Apr 2025

Mapping seasonal snow melting in Karakoram using SAR and topographic data

Shiyi Li, Lanqing Huang, Philipp Bernhard, and Irena Hajnsek

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1621-2025-supplement

Data sets

Sub-sub-basins of Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) Region K. Khumaltar https://doi.org/10.26066/RDS.7952

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem European Space Agency https://dataspace.copernicus.eu

Model code and software

Mapping seasonal snow melting in Karakoram using SAR and topographic data S. Li https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000731759

Short summary

This work presents an improved method for seasonal wet snow mapping in Karakoram using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and topographic data. This method enables robust wet snow classification in complex mountainous terrain. Large-scale wet snow maps were generated using the proposed method, covering three major water basins in Karakoram over 4 years (2017–2021). Crucial snow variables were further derived from the maps and provided valuable insights on regional snow melting dynamics.