Arid Zone Research ›› 2019, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (1): 104-112.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2019.01.12

• Land and Water Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Distribution and Trend of Snow Cover in Inner Mongolia from 2001 to 2016 Based on MODIS Data

SUN Xiao-rui1, GAO Yong1, DING Yan-long1, MENG Zhong-ju1, JIA Xu1, DU Peng2, LIANG Yu-mei1   

  1. 1. College of Desert Science and Engineering,Inner Mongolia Agricultural University,Hohhot 010020,Inner Mongolia,China;
    2. Inner Mongolia M·Grass Ecological Environment (Group) Co.,LTD,Hohhot 010010,Inner Mongolia,China
  • Received:2018-01-22 Revised:2018-08-02 Published:2025-10-17

Abstract: Meltwater is one of the most important water sources in arid area. Monitoring of the change of snow cover distribution is crucial for the utilization of regional ice and snow resources and the prevention of ice and snow disasters. In this paper,the collection of snow cover in the different altitude zones in the research area was carried out based on the MOD10A2 snow cover data in Inner Mongolia during the period from 2001 to 2016. The annual and inter-annual changes of snow cover distribution in different altitude zones and the factors affecting such changes in combination with meteorological factors (such as temperature and precipitation) were analyzed. The results revealed that the curves of annual distribution of snow cover area and snow coverage rate were unimodal. The snow cover duration in 10 altitude zones started from September to next May,and the peak value of snow cover depth occurred in winter. The critical elevation of the increase and decrease of snow coverage rate was between 952-1 114 m a. s. l. The inter-annual change of snow cover in different altitude zones was in a pattern of “increase-decrease-increase-decrease” in spring,summer and autumn,but in a pattern of “decrease-increase-decrease” in winter. The snow cover area was affected by the interaction of precipitation and air temperature,and it might be affected indirectly by altitude. In Inner Mongolia,there was a significantly positive correlation between the snow coverage rate in spring and winter and the winter precipitation,but a basically negative one between it and temperature.

Key words: MOD10A2, air temperature, precipitation, snow coverage rate, snow cover area, Inner Mongolia