Powder snow identified from space

27th June 2019, by Abi Butcher

The ESA has worked out a new way of finding the freshest powder snow on the planet

The European Space Agency (ESA) has worked out a new way of remotely determining where the freshest powder snow is lying.

Ice and snow show different degrees of reflection depending on their age and microscopic liquid water content — with the lightest powder snow, which contains the smallest snowflakes, being the most reflective.

Observed from space, the electromagnetic radiation of snow, glaciers and dirty glacier ice (as well as dirty, melting snow) pass through the earth’s atmosphere at different wavelengths, allowing the ESA to identify snow grain size from satellite optical images.

While the purpose of the study is to observe the impact of climate change, the International Ski Federation reports: “This finding may make it easier to identify fresh powder from weather satellites in future to aid snow reports for skiers and boarders.” 

If you want to find out a bit more about the science behind it, visit esa.int for more information.

• ski
• snow
• skiing
• off-piste
• powder
• european space agency

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