Italian Apennines are an unique mountain environment in the central Mediterranean basin as their peaks and massifs reach remarkable altitudes like Corno Grande, in the Gran Sasso d'Italia Massif (2912 m a.s.l.), the highest peak with Calderone glacier, the southernmost known glacier in Europe, and Mt. Amaro, in the Majella Massif (2793 m a.s.l.). These areas are characterized by abundant snow precipitation and relict permafrost features, increasing the interest on the area for the monitoring and investigation of cryosphere features and their influence on ecosystem functioning. Moreover the area is included in the Italian LTER network. Particularly, the current work is focused on snow cover dynamics of the Majella IT01-001-T research site, concerning the Majella National Park covering approximately a surface equal to 630 km². Snow falls are abundant, especially along the eastern sides of the mountain range, due to the direct exposition to Balcanic - Danubian cold currents. Snow cover may last for approximately 100 to 200 days in accordance with elevation. Mean snow depth on the ground may reach remarkable values, up to 400 cm. In order to reconstruct the snow cover dynamics a geomatic approach was adopted. MODIS satellite time series (2000-2012) of the study area, were processed in an automated procedure developed by the authors, in R language. Each scene was reclassified in “Snow - No Snow - No Data” values, according to pixel values, and grouped in yearly summarizing tables. These results allowed to process yearly snow cover duration maps of the entire site. Moreover, by the employment of a Digital Terrain Model, snow cover duration was compared with morphological parameters evaluating snow cover behavior in the time series and highlighting different trends in the investigated years. The outputs have also been compared with topsoil temperature data, whose daily amplitude could be used to detect the presence or absence of snow on the ground. These independent measurement were used as reference data to be compared with the MODIS processing results. Future aim of the work is the replication of the methodology in other research sites belonging to this LTER site, as for example the Gran Sasso massif, and the relationships with the distribution of high elevation vegetation types and plant phenology.

The employment of MODIS time series and soil temperature to monitor snow cover in the Majella National Park (Italian Central Apennines).

STANISCI, Angela;
2013-01-01

Abstract

Italian Apennines are an unique mountain environment in the central Mediterranean basin as their peaks and massifs reach remarkable altitudes like Corno Grande, in the Gran Sasso d'Italia Massif (2912 m a.s.l.), the highest peak with Calderone glacier, the southernmost known glacier in Europe, and Mt. Amaro, in the Majella Massif (2793 m a.s.l.). These areas are characterized by abundant snow precipitation and relict permafrost features, increasing the interest on the area for the monitoring and investigation of cryosphere features and their influence on ecosystem functioning. Moreover the area is included in the Italian LTER network. Particularly, the current work is focused on snow cover dynamics of the Majella IT01-001-T research site, concerning the Majella National Park covering approximately a surface equal to 630 km². Snow falls are abundant, especially along the eastern sides of the mountain range, due to the direct exposition to Balcanic - Danubian cold currents. Snow cover may last for approximately 100 to 200 days in accordance with elevation. Mean snow depth on the ground may reach remarkable values, up to 400 cm. In order to reconstruct the snow cover dynamics a geomatic approach was adopted. MODIS satellite time series (2000-2012) of the study area, were processed in an automated procedure developed by the authors, in R language. Each scene was reclassified in “Snow - No Snow - No Data” values, according to pixel values, and grouped in yearly summarizing tables. These results allowed to process yearly snow cover duration maps of the entire site. Moreover, by the employment of a Digital Terrain Model, snow cover duration was compared with morphological parameters evaluating snow cover behavior in the time series and highlighting different trends in the investigated years. The outputs have also been compared with topsoil temperature data, whose daily amplitude could be used to detect the presence or absence of snow on the ground. These independent measurement were used as reference data to be compared with the MODIS processing results. Future aim of the work is the replication of the methodology in other research sites belonging to this LTER site, as for example the Gran Sasso massif, and the relationships with the distribution of high elevation vegetation types and plant phenology.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11695/14540
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