Development of Snow Depth Estimation Method Using Asnaro-2 X-Band Sar Data

This study aims to develop high resolution and high precision snow depth estimation methods using satellite-based synthetic aperture radar. Volume scattering within the snow layer attenuates incident microwave signals, thereby reducing the observed backscatter intensity over snow-covered surfaces. However, penetration depth of snow and snow quality cause erratic changes in backscatter intensity, which is an error factor in snow depth estimation. The proposed method estimates snow depth from the difference between backscatter intensity images after correction for error factors, and comparison with AMeDAS observations indicates that the estimation error is less than 10 cm.