PARIS, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- People in Earth's Northern Hemisphere will get assistance from space this winter to help them cope with harsh weather conditions, European space officials say.
Satellite information on snow cover is now available through ESA's GlobSnow project soon after it snows, and the one-year, near-real time demonstration service makes information about snow cover and snow amount publicly available online on the GlobSnow Web site, the European Space Agency said in a release.
In addition to posing a threat to communities through transportation shutdowns and floods, snow cover influences the planet's climate, its meteorology and its water supply.
Understanding snow conditions can help predict floods and can advance climate studies, the ESA says.
The absence of meteorological observers on the ground, especially in the remote areas of Eurasia and North America, makes it difficult to map and quantify the amount of snow.
GlobSnow, led by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, used data from European and U.S. Earth observation satellites.
