Snow Cover Fraction

Snow Cover Fraction (SCF) is defined as the fraction of land area covered by snow.

Snow has a very high albedo, which participates to cool the Earth surface. As a consequence, snow cover is an important variable as it directly affects the Earth’s energy balance. It is of major concern for various fields such as weather forecasting, climate change, water management, etc.

SCF can be estimated from ground level, as well as, from spatial sensors.

Unit: Fraction or percentage

Available products over Wales:

• NSIDC MODIS Daily (MYD10A1 & MOD10A1)
• NSIDC MODIS 8-day (MYD10A2 & MOD10A2)
• NSIDC MODIS CMG Daily (MYD10C1 & MOD10C1)
• NSIDC MODIS CMG 8-day (MYD10C2 & MOD10C2)
• NSIDC MODIS CMG Monthly (MYD10CM & MOD10CM)
• s-NPP VIIRS NDSI snow fraction
• s-NPP VIIRS Refl snow fraction
• ESA GlobSnow Reanalysis
• ESA GlobSnow NRT