A STUDY ON SNOW DEPTH DISTRIBUTION ON WINDWARD SLOPE AND LEEWARD SLOPE USING AIRBORNE LASER SCANNING

Abstract

 Airborne laser scanning was conducted to measure snow depth on the windward and the leeward slope in the Taisetu Mountains in Hokkaido, Japan in March 2017. In the forests, linear relationships between elevation and snow depth (R² = 0.90-0.97) and snow depth increase with canopy penetration fraction increase were found. In the alpine zone, linear relationships between overground-openness of the ground and snow depth were found (R² = 0.82-0.95), but great snow depths, might be difficult to reproduce with the linear relationship, were found at the steep topography in the leeward slope.