Articles | Volume 20, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-3345-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-3345-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Assessing the impact of meteorological forcing and its uncertainty on snow modeling and reanalysis
Haorui Sun
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Steven A. Margulis
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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We explore satellite retrievals of snow water equivalent (SWE) along hypothetical ground tracks that would allow estimation of SWE over an entire watershed. The retrieval of SWE from satellites has proved elusive, but there are now technological options that do so along essentially one-dimensional tracks. We use machine learning (ML) algorithms as the basis for a track-to-area (TTA) transformation and show that at least one is robust enough to estimate domain-wide SWE with high accuracy.
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We examined the spatiotemporal distribution of stored water in the seasonal snowpack over High Mountain Asia, based on a new snow reanalysis dataset. The dataset was derived utilizing satellite-observed snow information, which spans across 18 water years, at a high spatial (~ 500 m) and temporal (daily) resolution. Snow mass and snow storage distribution over space and time are analyzed in this paper, which brings new insights into understanding the snowpack variability over this region.
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Short summary
Estimating Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) has large uncertainties from meteorological data, with no single dataset being universally superior. Our multi-forcing approach, which combines datasets, yields more accurate SWE estimates than single-forcing methods by mitigating bias. Even after data assimilation corrects for prior errors, the multi-forcing ensemble improves accuracy and uncertainty characterization, offering a more robust and reliable strategy for water resource management.
Estimating Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) has large uncertainties from meteorological data, with no...