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http://dx.doi.org/10.7780/kjrs.2012.28.4.5

Analysis on the Snow Cover Variations at Mt. Kilimanjaro Using Landsat Satellite Images  

Park, Sung-Hwan (Department of Geoinformatics, The University of Seoul)
Lee, Moung-Jin (Korea Adaptation Center for Climate Change, Korea Environment Institute)
Jung, Hyung-Sup (Department of Geoinformatics, The University of Seoul)
Publication Information
Korean Journal of Remote Sensing / v.28, no.4, 2012 , pp. 409-420 More about this Journal
Abstract
Since the Industrial Revolution, CO2 levels have been increasing with climate change. In this study, Analyze time-series changes in snow cover quantitatively and predict the vanishing point of snow cover statistically using remote sensing. The study area is Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. 23 image data of Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-7 ETM+, spanning the 27 years from June 1984 to July 2011, were acquired. For this study, first, atmospheric correction was performed on each image using the COST atmospheric correction model. Second, the snow cover area was extracted using the NDSI (Normalized Difference Snow Index) algorithm. Third, the minimum height of snow cover was determined using SRTM DEM. Finally, the vanishing point of snow cover was predicted using the trend line of a linear function. Analysis was divided using a total of 23 images and 17 images during the dry season. Results show that snow cover area decreased by approximately $6.47km^2$ from $9.01km^2$ to $2.54km^2$, equivalent to a 73% reduction. The minimum height of snow cover increased by approximately 290 m, from 4,603 m to 4,893 m. Using the trend line result shows that the snow cover area decreased by approximately $0.342km^2$ in the dry season and $0.421km^2$ overall each year. In contrast, the annual increase in the minimum height of snow cover was approximately 9.848 m in the dry season and 11.251 m overall. Based on this analysis of vanishing point, there will be no snow cover 2020 at 95% confidence interval. This study can be used to monitor global climate change by providing the change in snow cover area and reference data when studying this area or similar areas in future research.
Keywords
Snow cover; NDSI; Climate change; Mt. Kilimanjaro; Landsat;
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