Abstract: New snow cover products were produced by the combined using of Aqua and Terra MODIS snow cover products in 2001-2010. Then the distribution and variation of snow cover over the three major snow-covered regions in China were studied. The outcome shows that Xinjiang region’s snow cover is more stable than Northeast China-Inner Mongolia region’s and Tibetan Plateau’s. The corresponding stable indices of snow cover over the three regions are 0.58, 0.38 and 0.29, respectively. The seasonal snow-covered areas in different month were also studied, which shows that in Xinjiang and Northeast China, the largest snow-covered area appeared in January, and the smallest in July and August. In Tibetan Plateau, the largest snow-covered area appeared in November, after then the area reduced gradually till April, afterwards quickly till July and August. The yearly stable snow-covered area has not significantly changed over three major snow-covered regions and entire China since 2002.

Key words: snow cover days,  , spatial distribution, MODIS, seasonal and yearly variations