Brief communication: Not as dirty as they look, flawed airborne and satellite snow spectra

Bair, Edward H.; Roberts, Dar A.; Thompson, David R.; Brodrick, Philip G.; Wilder, Brenton A.; Bohn, Niklas; Crawford, Christopher J.; Carmon, Nimrod; Vuyovich, Carrie M.; Dozier, Jeff

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2315-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2315-2025

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

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2315-2025

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

Articles | Volume 19, issue 6

Brief communication

|

27 Jun 2025

Brief communication |

| 27 Jun 2025

Brief communication: Not as dirty as they look, flawed airborne and satellite snow spectra

Edward H. Bair, Dar A. Roberts, David R. Thompson, Philip G. Brodrick, Brenton A. Wilder, Niklas Bohn, Christopher J. Crawford, Nimrod Carmon, Carrie M. Vuyovich, and Jeff Dozier

Data sets

PRISMA Level 1 Data Agenzia Spaziale Italiana https://prisma.asi. it

EMIT L2A Estimated Surface Reflectance and Uncertainty and Masks 60 m V001 R. Green https://doi.org/10.5067/EMIT/EMITL2ARFL.001

Thorpe, AVIRIS-NG L2 Surface Reflectance R. O. Green et al. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2110

Landsat 8-9 Operational Land Imager/Thermal Infrared Sensor Level-2 EROS https://doi.org/10.5066/P9OGBGM6

Short summary

Key to the success of future satellite missions is understanding snowmelt in our warming climate, as this has implications for nearly 2 billion people. An obstacle is that an artifact, called the hook, is often mistaken for soot or dust. Instead, it is caused by three amplifying effects: (1) background reflectance that is too dark, (2) an assumption of level terrain, and (3) differences in optical constants of ice. Sensor calibration and directional effects may also contribute. Solutions are presented.