Rain on Snow

Arctic reindeer herders are facing the challenges of adapting to climate change as a warmer Arctic climate makes it harder for herds to find food and navigate. The Polar View initiative is providing the herders with satellite-based snow maps. The snow maps are derived from optical and radar satellite data as delivered by ENVISAT and help herders in near real-time navigating the Arctic Tundra. The present map depicts snow coverage around mid-April 2010. Dark blue indicates full snow coverage, lighter blues a partial coverage and brown highlights snow free areas. Copyright: ESA Polar View, Kongsberg