ESA Alpine Regional Initiative AlpSnow EXPRO+

AlpSnow is a science activity within ESA's Alpine Regional Initiative that is concerned with the development of innovative EO-based products for serving scientific and operational needs in the Alpine region. The focus is on novel EO-based algorithms and techniques to create the most complete and coherent as possible description of snow, its dynamics and its properties. The following snow parameters are addressed, exploiting SAR and optical satellite data:

• Snow area extent
• Snow albedo
• Snow water equivalent
• Snow depth
• Snow grain size
• Snow liquid water content (wet snow)

The AlpSnow activity is part of the Scientific Data Exploitation Element of ESA’s EOEP-5, which addresses needs of the EO and Earth system science communities regarding innovative methods and products and the development of open science tools.

Additionally, this activity represents an ESA contribution to the Internation Network for Alpine Research Carchment Hydrology (INARCH) initiative of the Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) project of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). INARCH aims at strengthening the understanding of alpine cold regions hydrological processes, improving their prediction and finding consistent measurement strategies.

Project Period: December 2020 - July 2024

ESA Contract No. 4000132770/20/I-NB