Assimilation of remotely sensed snow cover within land surface models to support early detection of agricultural drought

In support of the United States Geological Survey and its scientific support role to the USAID's Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC) is developing land surface models for the purpose of providing estimates of snow water equivalent for areas of central Asia. Snow is a critical source of freshwater for many parts of this region. Winter and spring snowpack information is an early indicator of water availability for agriculture within snow-affected regions, as well as for downstream irrigated areas. Daily synoptic modelling of regional snow packs supports the early detection of agricultural drought associated with production shortfalls that threaten food security. Consequently, snow water equivalent estimation is one key component of a famine early warning system for this region. As in situ snowpack observations are not available for most areas of Central Asia, we simulated the snow hydrology for the years of 2003-2010 and performed an analysis of the estimated snow.