New snow products from H SAF on EUMETCast soon

The products are:

H34: Snow detection (snow mask) by VIS/NIR of SEVIRI – this product, in HDF5 format, provides a binary map of snow / no-snow situation based on the acquisition of VIS/IR images from GEO.

• Input satellite data: SEVIRI on MSG
• Generation frequency: Output every 24h
• Spatial coverage: MSG Disk

H35: Snow detection (snow mask) and Effective snow cover by VIS/NIR of AVHRR – this product, in GRIB2 format, is an estimate of the fractional cover at resolution element level using the combined effect of fractional snow cover and other reflective contributors.

• Input satellite data: AVHRR (NOAA, Metop)
• Generation frequency: Output every 24h
• Spatial coverage: Global

These products have pre-operational status.

The main difference compared to the currently distributed H SAF operational snow products (H10 and H12) is essentially that H10 and H12 cover only the Pan-European region.

The following improvements to H34 and H35 are expected in the future and will allow an upgrade of the products to ‘Operational’ status:

• H34: Further studies in dry mountainous environments, near desert areas and in African areas for improved performance.
• H35: Validation extension to areas in North America or Asia.

The products will be distributed on EUMETCast as follows:

EUMETCast Europe

Channel: E1B-SAF-5
PID: 500
Multicast address: 224.223.222.28

EUMETCast Africa

Channel: A1C-SAF-5
PID: 100
Multicast address: 224.223.225.3

EUMETCast Terrestrial

Channel: T01-SAF
Multicast address: 232.223.222.6

Example filenames

H34: S-HSAF-h34_20210206_day_merged.H5.gz

H35: S-HSAF-h35_20210206_day_merged.grib2.gz

Users already subscribed to receive H SAF products via EUMETCast will receive these new products automatically. Other users wishing to receive these products should register via our Earth Observation Portal.

For more information, contact our User Service Helpdesk.