Review article: using spaceborne lidar for snow depth retrievals: recent findings and utility for hydrologic applications

Fair, Zachary; Vuyovich, Carrie; Neumann, Thomas; Pflug, Justin; Shean, David; Enderlin, Ellyn M.; Zikan, Karina; Besso, Hannah; Lundquist, Jessica; Deschamps-Berger, Cesar; Treichler, Désirée

doi:10.5194/tc-19-5671-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5671-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5671-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 11

Review article

|

13 Nov 2025

Review article |

| 13 Nov 2025

Review article: using spaceborne lidar for snow depth retrievals: recent findings and utility for hydrologic applications

Zachary Fair, Carrie Vuyovich, Thomas Neumann, Justin Pflug, David Shean, Ellyn M. Enderlin, Karina Zikan, Hannah Besso, Jessica Lundquist, Cesar Deschamps-Berger, and Désirée Treichler

Data sets

SnowEx23 Airborne Lidar-Derived 0.25M Snow Depth and Canopy Height C. F. Larsen https://doi.org/10.5067/BV4D8RRU1H7U

SnowEx23 Time-Lapse Imagery, Version 1 D. Vas et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/UB3A44RTR6JD

Model code and software

Plotting Code for "Characterizing ICESat-2 Snow Depths Over the Boreal Forests and Tundra of Alaska in Support of the SnowEx 2023 Campaign'' Z. Fair et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13852000

Short summary

Lidar is commonly used to measure snow over global water reservoirs. However, ground-based and airborne lidar surveys are expensive, so satellite-based methods are needed. In this review, we outline the latest research using satellite-based lidar to monitor snow. Best practices for lidar-based snow monitoring are given, as is a discussion on challenges in this field of research.