Snow water equivalent

Snow water equivalent work estimates the liquid-water storage held in snowpack so basin operators can track seasonal accumulation, runoff risk, and water-supply timing.^[1] Satellite and airborne methods for this topic include GNSS reflectometry, lidar, passive microwave radiometry, radar backscatter, and InSAR routes for snowpack monitoring and SWE retrieval.^[1] Dry to moist snowpack can support SWE inference from phase changes in penetrating microwave or reflectometry measurements, while wet snow reduces penetration and changes the retrieval problem.^[1] Airborne lidar snow-depth mapping and NASA SnowEx field campaigns provide calibration and validation context for satellite SWE methods.^[2][3] Typical outputs include SWE estimates, change detection, basin storage estimates, and uncertainty for mountain-basin to regional cryosphere monitoring.^[1][2][3]