Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites—R Series

A collaborative NOAA & NASA program

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Data Products: Snow Cover

Example of the snow cover product (right figure) as generated by the GOES-R snow cover algorithm using MODIS data (left image) over the Colorado Rockies on April 30, 2017.

Download product algorithm theoretical basis document (ATBD)

The fractional snow cover algorithm uses GOES-R ABI spectral information in the visible and near-visible portion of the energy spectrum to retrieve sub-pixel fractional snow cover and grain size estimates via computationally efficient spectral mixture modeling. This product supports a number of operational applications that include: assimilation into NOAA’s NOHRC snow model, as well as hydrologic forecasts and warnings, including river and flood forecasts, water management, snowpack monitoring and analysis, and climate studies.