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Abstract
Snow cover mapping is important for snow and glacier-related research. The spatial and temporal distribution of snow cover area is a fundamental input to the atmospheric models, snowmelt runoff models and climate models, as well as other applications. Daily snow cover maps from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra satellite were retrieved for the period between 2004 and 2007, and pixels in these images were classified as cloud, snow or snow-free. These images have then been compared with ground snow depth (SD) measurements from the four observatories located at different parts of Himalayas. Comparison of snow maps with in situ data showed good agreement with overall accuracies in between 78.15 and 95.60%. When snow cover was less, MODIS data were found to be less accurate in mapping snow cover region. As the SD increases, the accuracy of MODIS snow cover maps also increases.