2016 Intermountain GIS Conference

DUE TO WEATHER BACK EAST, THE PRESENTER IS UNABLE TO TRAVEL TO MONTANA, THUS THIS PRESENTATION IS CANCELLED

This study quantified and provided visibility to changes in snow cover in the month of April in Glacier National Park over a 20 year time period from 1995-2015. Satellite imagery of Glacier National Park was obtained from the USGS (EarthExplorer) Landsat TM and Landsat OLI images along path 41 and row 26 for selected dates in the month of April. A false color composite was created using Green, NIR, and SWIR and further analyzed using a snow cover index to distinguish snow coverage from cloud cover. Histogram analysis and cross tabulation of images was used to compare snow coverage between each of the 3 years. Image differencing, standard differencing, as well as standard class classification were employed using IDRISI/Terrset to analyze the change in snow coverage. Results found that that the snow cover increased by about 3,000 km2 from 1995-2004 and had an overall decrease of about 7,000 km2 over the entire 20 year study. If the snow continues to melt at the rate it did from 1995-2015 without any strong snowfall winters (as seen in April 2004), there is potential that glaciers will be completely melted by the month of April within the next 9 years. There has been change in snow cover over the past 20 years, serving as a base study for future research looking at the effects of the change in snow cover on the local economy and ecology.