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April
5, 2007 As spring melt of
winter snow is
underway in the Satellite images are
downlinked
to the Arctic Research Centre of the Finnish Meteorological Institute
(FMI) and
then passed on to SYKE, which takes the image data and processes it
further to
create the snow maps. SYKE's snow-mapping
method produces information on
fractional snow coverage for all non-mountainous areas, even heavily
forested
spots, with fine resolution. The maps are published on the SYKE website
as soon
as they are compiled, usually within four to five hours of satellite
overpass. Because snow is
vital to the
water cycle, predicting when and how snow will melt and be released
into local ecosystems
is very useful. For instance several Finnish regional environment
centers and
the Estonian Meteorological Institute are using the snow maps on a
daily basis
for hydrological modeling, flood forecasting and water resources
management. The snow maps are
also used by
the commercial sector for activities such as managing hydroelectric
power
production and estimating how much time is left in the season for
winter
sports. In 2008, the mapping
project will
expand to include parts of
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