Democratizing access to remotely-sensed seasonal snow data with user-focused cloud computing portals - SnowCloudMetrics and SnowCloudHydro

Abstract:

The annual accumulation and melt of snowpack varies across landscapes and topographies, and transitions into an essential water resource for people, economies, and ecosystems across the Earth. Satellite measurements capture these seasonal transformations. These Earth observations complement sparse ground-based monitoring networks and provide novel insights into the spatial and temporal connections of snowpack and downstream water resources. While geographically versatile, transitioning these remotely-sensed data into actionable information is frequently hampered by logistical and computational challenges. These obstacles limit ready access by all users. Cloud computing helps democratize access to data over the internet, reducing human and technical barriers to improve knowledge transfer across institutions and user groups. We present two web-based platforms, SnowCloudMetrics and SnowCloudHydro, that provide ready access to NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) daily snow cover product (MOD10A1) by leveraging the cloud-computing capacity of Google Earth Engine. SnowCloudMetrics is a user-ready portal for on-demand production and delivery of snow information including snow cover frequency and snow disappearance date. The 500-m spatial data are available globally from 2000 to present. SnowCloudHydro is a web-based tool that integrates snow data from SnowCloudMetrics, hydro-climatic variables, and machine-learning algorithms to predict streamflow in watersheds across Montana (in its beta version) and beyond (in subsequent versions). Traditionally, processing and analyzing these massive datasets would require high bandwidth internet, large local digital storage capacity, and expensive hardware and software to download, process, and analyze. SnowCloudMetrics and SnowCloudHydro are a new paradigm for user access, as they only require basic internet access and a modern web browser. These tools are not only easy to access but create computational efficiencies for researchers and natural resource managers, allowing them to focus on basic and applied research questions rather than navigating the complexities of data management and processing.