Snow cover analysis in Emilia-Romagna

In this paper we present an operational chain developed in the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy) to monitor snow cover and snow water equivalent (SWE) over the area managed by the Regional Catchment Technical Service. Remote sensing data from medium resolution sensors (MODIS and AVHRR/3) are used as input for snow cover detection algorithms. Hourly weather station measurements are used as input for a snow melt and accumulation model in order to estimate the snow water equivalent. The model reliability is mainly related to the network density of heated rain gauges detecting snow precipitation. The products are disseminated as web bulletins and they are used in monitoring chain and alert for the Civil Protection Agency.