Abstract: In this study, five climate zones were delimited using the rotated empirical orthogonal function (REOF)  method base on the data of snow cover depth and other meteorological factors, observed by 122 meteorological stations in northeast China in recent 50 years. A database of three terrain factors (longitude, latitude and altitude) and three microterrain factors (slope, exposure and openness) was derived using digital elevation model (DEM) and GIS to simulate snow cover depth in northeast China with the mathematical theorem of trend simulation and stepwise regression. The results showed that there was a positive correlation between the macroterrain factors and the snow cover depth. Snow cover depth was thick in the Da Xing'an Mountains and Xiao Xing'an Mountains in northeast China, and it was increased with the increase of altitude and latitude. Delimitation of the climate zones reveals that the microterrain factors could increase their effects on snow cover depth, gives prominence to local features of snow cover depth distribution, and reduce the relative errors.

Key words: snow cover depth, REOF subarea, terrain factor, GIS simulation, northeast China