ESTIMATION OF SNOW WATER EQUIVALENT DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE FORESTS USING AIRBORNE LASER SCANNING

Abstract

For better estimation of snow water equivalents for a dam basin in cold snowy regions, the relationship between snow depth distribution outside forests and topography was investigated using high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) created from airborne laser scanning. A linear relationship between snow depth outside forests and overground-openness was clarified. A method to estimate snow depths and snow water equivalents outside forests was developed using this linear relationship. Using the method, snow water equivalents in the Chubetsu Dam basin were estimated and resulted in estimates with a higher level of accuracy than those based on existing methods.