The effect of boreal forest canopy to reflectance of snow covered terrain based on airborne imaging spectrometer observations

•Canopy characteristics affect considerably the spectral observations of snow covered terrain.•Relation between the canopy characteristics and reflectance was nearly exponential.•Relative variation in NDSI was large (>100%) in dense forests (Canopy Cover 85%).•NDSI was a more effective parameter in detecting canopy snow (values deviated 0.3 on average) than NDVI (values deviated 0.1 on average).