The challenge of monitoring snow surface sublimation in winter could be resolved with structure-from-motion photogrammetry

•Time-lapse structure-from-motion photogrammetry method were firstly used to estimate daliy snow surface sublimation rate through precise measurement of snow depth and volume change.•The results are comparable to measurements from eddy covariance and pan observation.•The advantage of O-T-SfM can provide plot scale spatial and temporal daily surface sublimation amount variation.•This method has the advantages of low cost, less maintenance and convenient installation.