Hi there,
I am working on Sentinel-1 data. and I couldn't find any relevant note for proper preprocessing using python particularly for snow. If there are any notebooks please do send the links of the notebooks. And also if there are any notebooks/documents that give an idea of normal preprorocessing please do send the links of those also.
Any python Module is fine.
Thanks in Advance. hoping to get a reply soon.
Notebooks for Snow pre-processing of SAR data
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crimson_rune
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2026 12:47 am America/New_York
Notebooks for Snow pre-processing of SAR data
Hello Shiva,
Here are a few locations to get started if you haven't run into these already. Here is a notebook walking through using a pair of UAVSAR (an L-band aerial platform) images to retrieve SWE changes over grand mesa. Definitely check out parts 1 and 2 if you are not familiar with UAVSAR.
https://snowex-2022.hackweek.io/tutorials/uavsar/3_interferometric_swe_inversion.html
In addition we have a python package called uavsar_pytools that has most of the common phase to swe equations already available.
https://github.com/SnowEx/uavsar_pytools/blob/main/uavsar_pytools/snow_depth_inversion.py
For the interferometric processing steps of generating unwrapped phase-reference phase changes they are not different from any other InSAR application. If you are trying to use Sentinel-1 like Shadi shows in that paper you can download interferograms from the hyp3 platform to avoid processing them yourself and then simply apply the functions in the uavsar_pytools package.
https://search.asf.alaska.edu/#/
If you want to use a different platform than Sentinel-1 you should be able to follow any standard interferometric processing pipeline to generate phase changes. Since you are interested in SWE the only major difference will be that you will likely have lower coherence over your study site than if you were only focused on the summer.
Go to full postHere are a few locations to get started if you haven't run into these already. Here is a notebook walking through using a pair of UAVSAR (an L-band aerial platform) images to retrieve SWE changes over grand mesa. Definitely check out parts 1 and 2 if you are not familiar with UAVSAR.
https://snowex-2022.hackweek.io/tutorials/uavsar/3_interferometric_swe_inversion.html
In addition we have a python package called uavsar_pytools that has most of the common phase to swe equations already available.
https://github.com/SnowEx/uavsar_pytools/blob/main/uavsar_pytools/snow_depth_inversion.py
For the interferometric processing steps of generating unwrapped phase-reference phase changes they are not different from any other InSAR application. If you are trying to use Sentinel-1 like Shadi shows in that paper you can download interferograms from the hyp3 platform to avoid processing them yourself and then simply apply the functions in the uavsar_pytools package.
https://search.asf.alaska.edu/#/
If you want to use a different platform than Sentinel-1 you should be able to follow any standard interferometric processing pipeline to generate phase changes. Since you are interested in SWE the only major difference will be that you will likely have lower coherence over your study site than if you were only focused on the summer.
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zachkeskinen
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2026 1:48 pm America/New_York
Re: Notebooks for Snow pre-processing of SAR data
Hello,
Can you provide some more information about your desired snow-related outcome with snow? Are you trying to follow an interferometric phase based SWE change retrieval like that outlined in
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/559/2024/ and https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-5868/
or are you interested in using changes in backscatter to recover snow depths like that outlined in:
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/159/2022/ and https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/5407/2024/
If you are interested in snow depths from sentinel-1 backscatter you could use https://github.com/SnowEx/spicy-snow a python package for retrieval of snow depth from opera RTC products, interferometry is challenging for regions with repeat pass intervals of 12-days (most areas outside europe) due to low coherence but is generally just a standard insar processing pipeline followed by applying the phase to swe formula given in the first two papers linked.
Let me know a bit more about your specific application and I can try to point you in the right direction,
Zach Hoppinen
Can you provide some more information about your desired snow-related outcome with snow? Are you trying to follow an interferometric phase based SWE change retrieval like that outlined in
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/559/2024/ and https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-5868/
or are you interested in using changes in backscatter to recover snow depths like that outlined in:
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/159/2022/ and https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/5407/2024/
If you are interested in snow depths from sentinel-1 backscatter you could use https://github.com/SnowEx/spicy-snow a python package for retrieval of snow depth from opera RTC products, interferometry is challenging for regions with repeat pass intervals of 12-days (most areas outside europe) due to low coherence but is generally just a standard insar processing pipeline followed by applying the phase to swe formula given in the first two papers linked.
Let me know a bit more about your specific application and I can try to point you in the right direction,
Zach Hoppinen
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crimson_rune
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2026 12:47 am America/New_York
Re: Notebooks for Snow pre-processing of SAR data
Hi zachkeskin,
Thanks for the reply. I want resources for interferometric phase based SWE change retrieval like that outlined in
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/559/2024/.
Thanks
Shiva Kumar
Thanks for the reply. I want resources for interferometric phase based SWE change retrieval like that outlined in
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/559/2024/.
Thanks
Shiva Kumar
-
zachkeskinen
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2026 1:48 pm America/New_York
Re: Notebooks for Snow pre-processing of SAR data
Hello Shiva,
Here are a few locations to get started if you haven't run into these already. Here is a notebook walking through using a pair of UAVSAR (an L-band aerial platform) images to retrieve SWE changes over grand mesa. Definitely check out parts 1 and 2 if you are not familiar with UAVSAR.
https://snowex-2022.hackweek.io/tutorials/uavsar/3_interferometric_swe_inversion.html
In addition we have a python package called uavsar_pytools that has most of the common phase to swe equations already available.
https://github.com/SnowEx/uavsar_pytools/blob/main/uavsar_pytools/snow_depth_inversion.py
For the interferometric processing steps of generating unwrapped phase-reference phase changes they are not different from any other InSAR application. If you are trying to use Sentinel-1 like Shadi shows in that paper you can download interferograms from the hyp3 platform to avoid processing them yourself and then simply apply the functions in the uavsar_pytools package.
https://search.asf.alaska.edu/#/
If you want to use a different platform than Sentinel-1 you should be able to follow any standard interferometric processing pipeline to generate phase changes. Since you are interested in SWE the only major difference will be that you will likely have lower coherence over your study site than if you were only focused on the summer.
Here are a few locations to get started if you haven't run into these already. Here is a notebook walking through using a pair of UAVSAR (an L-band aerial platform) images to retrieve SWE changes over grand mesa. Definitely check out parts 1 and 2 if you are not familiar with UAVSAR.
https://snowex-2022.hackweek.io/tutorials/uavsar/3_interferometric_swe_inversion.html
In addition we have a python package called uavsar_pytools that has most of the common phase to swe equations already available.
https://github.com/SnowEx/uavsar_pytools/blob/main/uavsar_pytools/snow_depth_inversion.py
For the interferometric processing steps of generating unwrapped phase-reference phase changes they are not different from any other InSAR application. If you are trying to use Sentinel-1 like Shadi shows in that paper you can download interferograms from the hyp3 platform to avoid processing them yourself and then simply apply the functions in the uavsar_pytools package.
https://search.asf.alaska.edu/#/
If you want to use a different platform than Sentinel-1 you should be able to follow any standard interferometric processing pipeline to generate phase changes. Since you are interested in SWE the only major difference will be that you will likely have lower coherence over your study site than if you were only focused on the summer.