Snow cover monitoring with images from digital camera systems

Snow cover extension is one of the most important parameters for the study of climate variations, of hydrological balance and also for the management of touristic activities in mountain areas. Recently, webcam images collected at daily or even hourly intervals are used as tools to observe the snow covered areas; those images, properly processed, can be considered a very important environmental data source. This paper presents the Snow-noSnow software specifically designed to automatically detect the extension of snow cover from webcam images. The software was tested on images collected on Alps (ARPAV webcam network) and on Apennine in a pilot station properly equipped for this project by CNR-IIA.