Articles | Volume 18, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5619-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5619-2024
Research article
 | 
05 Dec 2024
Research article |  | 05 Dec 2024

Use of multiple reference data sources to cross-validate gridded snow water equivalent products over North America

Colleen Mortimer, Lawrence Mudryk, Eunsang Cho, Chris Derksen, Mike Brady, and Carrie Vuyovich

Data sets

Northern Hemisphere historical in-situ Snow Water Equivalent dataset (1979-2021) C. Mortimer and V. Vionnet https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10287093

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

ERA5-Land hourly data from 1950 to present J. Muñoz Sabater https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.e2161bac

GLDAS Catchment Land Surface Model L4 daily 0.25 x 0.25 degree GRACE-DA1 V2.2 B. Li et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/TXBMLX370XX8

MERRA-2 tavg1_2d_lnd_Nx: 2d,1-Hourly,Time-Averaged,Single-Level,Assimilation,Land Surface Diagnostics V5.12.4 Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) https://doi.org/10.5067/RKPHT8KC1Y1T

ESA Snow Climate Change Initiative (Snow_cci): Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) level 3C daily global climate research data package (CRDP) (1979-2020), version 2.0. K. Luojus et al. https://doi.org/10.5285/4647cc9ad3c044439d6c643208d3c494

ESA Snow Climate Change Initiative (Snow_cci): Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) level 3C daily global climate research data package (CRDP) (1979-2018), version 1.0 K. Luojus et al. https://doi.org/10.5285/fa20aaa2060e40cabf5fedce7a9716d0

Daily 4 km Gridded SWE and Snow Depth from Assimilated In-Situ and Modeled Data over the Conterminous US, Version 1 P. Broxton et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/0GGPB220EX6A

B-TIM snow for ERA5, V1 Aleksandra Elias Chereque https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/HHIRBU

B-TIM snow for JRA55, V1 Aleksandra Elias Chereque https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/X5QJ3P

B-TIM snow for MERRA2, V1 Aleksandra Elias Chereque https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/C5I5HN

Crocus-ERA5 daily snow product over the Northern Hemisphere at 0.25° resolution (Version 2023) B. Decharme and A. Barbu https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10943718

JRA-55: Japanese 55-year Reanalysis, Daily 3-Hourly and 6-Hourly Data Japan Meteorological Agency/Japan {10.5065/D6HH6H41

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Short summary
Ground measurements of snow water equivalent (SWE) are vital for understanding the accuracy of large-scale estimates from satellites and climate models. We compare two types of measurements – snow courses and airborne gamma SWE estimates – and analyze how measurement type impacts the accuracy assessment of gridded SWE products. We use this analysis to produce a combined reference SWE dataset for North America, applicable for future gridded SWE product evaluations and other applications.