Articles | Volume 17, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2629-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2629-2023
Research article
 | 
06 Jul 2023
Research article |  | 06 Jul 2023

How do tradeoffs in satellite spatial and temporal resolution impact snow water equivalent reconstruction?

Edward H. Bair, Jeff Dozier, Karl Rittger, Timbo Stillinger, William Kleiber, and Robert E. Davis

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Cited articles

Baba, M. W., Gascoin, S., Kinnard, C., Marchane, A., and Hanich, L.: Effect of digital elevation model resolution on the simulation of the snow cover evolution in the High Atlas, Water Resour. Res., 55, 5360–5378, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018WR023789, 2019. 
Bair, E. H.: SPIReS-MODIS-ParBal Snow Water Equivalent Reconstruction: Western USA, water years 2001–2021, Dryad [data set], https://doi.org/10.25349/D9TK7H, 2023a. 
Bair, E. H.: Snow cover and snow water equivalent for “How do tradeoffs in satellite spatial and temporal resolution impact snow water equivalent reconstruction?”, Dryad [data set], https://doi.org/10.25349/D9PW47, 2023b. 
Bair, E. H.: ParBal, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8106305, 2023c. 
Bair, E. H.: SPIRES, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8106303, 2023d. 
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Short summary
To test the title question, three snow cover products were used in a snow model. Contrary to previous work, higher-spatial-resolution snow cover products only improved the model accuracy marginally. Conclusions are as follows: (1) snow cover and albedo from moderate-resolution sensors continue to provide accurate forcings and (2) finer spatial and temporal resolutions are the future for Earth observations, but existing moderate-resolution sensors still offer value.
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