Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals
Spatial variability in snowpack properties negatively impacts our capacity to make direct measurements of snow water equivalent (SWE) using satellites. A comprehensive data set of snow microstructure (94 profiles at 36 sites) and snow layer thickness (9000 vertical profiles across nine trenches) col...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2019
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/3045/2019/tc-13-3045-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/382dc27a16764cf9bfc1330c80c1a708 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:382dc27a16764cf9bfc1330c80c1a708 2023-05-15T18:32:17+02:00 Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals N. Rutter M. J. Sandells C. Derksen J. King P. Toose L. Wake T. Watts R. Essery A. Roy A. Royer P. Marsh C. Larsen M. Sturm 2019-11-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/3045/2019/tc-13-3045-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/382dc27a16764cf9bfc1330c80c1a708 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/3045/2019/tc-13-3045-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/382dc27a16764cf9bfc1330c80c1a708 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 13, Pp 3045-3059 (2019) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2019 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019 2023-01-22T19:28:45Z Spatial variability in snowpack properties negatively impacts our capacity to make direct measurements of snow water equivalent (SWE) using satellites. A comprehensive data set of snow microstructure (94 profiles at 36 sites) and snow layer thickness (9000 vertical profiles across nine trenches) collected over two winters at Trail Valley Creek, NWT, Canada, was applied in synthetic radiative transfer experiments. This allowed for robust assessment of the impact of estimation accuracy of unknown snow microstructural characteristics on the viability of SWE retrievals. Depth hoar layer thickness varied over the shortest horizontal distances, controlled by subnivean vegetation and topography, while variability in total snowpack thickness approximated that of wind slab layers. Mean horizontal correlation lengths of layer thickness were less than a metre for all layers. Depth hoar was consistently ∼30 % of total depth, and with increasing total depth the proportion of wind slab increased at the expense of the decreasing surface snow layer. Distinct differences were evident between distributions of layer properties; a single median value represented density and specific surface area (SSA) of each layer well. Spatial variability in microstructure of depth hoar layers dominated SWE retrieval errors. A depth hoar SSA estimate of around 7 % under the median value was needed to accurately retrieve SWE. In shallow snowpacks <0.6 m, depth hoar SSA estimates of ±5 %–10 % around the optimal retrieval SSA allowed SWE retrievals within a tolerance of ±30 mm. Where snowpacks were deeper than ∼30 cm, accurate values of representative SSA for depth hoar became critical as retrieval errors were exceeded if the median depth hoar SSA was applied. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Unknown Canada Trail Valley Creek ENVELOPE(-133.415,-133.415,68.772,68.772) Valley Creek ENVELOPE(-138.324,-138.324,63.326,63.326) The Cryosphere 13 11 3045 3059 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
geo envir |
spellingShingle |
geo envir N. Rutter M. J. Sandells C. Derksen J. King P. Toose L. Wake T. Watts R. Essery A. Roy A. Royer P. Marsh C. Larsen M. Sturm Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
Spatial variability in snowpack properties negatively impacts our capacity to make direct measurements of snow water equivalent (SWE) using satellites. A comprehensive data set of snow microstructure (94 profiles at 36 sites) and snow layer thickness (9000 vertical profiles across nine trenches) collected over two winters at Trail Valley Creek, NWT, Canada, was applied in synthetic radiative transfer experiments. This allowed for robust assessment of the impact of estimation accuracy of unknown snow microstructural characteristics on the viability of SWE retrievals. Depth hoar layer thickness varied over the shortest horizontal distances, controlled by subnivean vegetation and topography, while variability in total snowpack thickness approximated that of wind slab layers. Mean horizontal correlation lengths of layer thickness were less than a metre for all layers. Depth hoar was consistently ∼30 % of total depth, and with increasing total depth the proportion of wind slab increased at the expense of the decreasing surface snow layer. Distinct differences were evident between distributions of layer properties; a single median value represented density and specific surface area (SSA) of each layer well. Spatial variability in microstructure of depth hoar layers dominated SWE retrieval errors. A depth hoar SSA estimate of around 7 % under the median value was needed to accurately retrieve SWE. In shallow snowpacks <0.6 m, depth hoar SSA estimates of ±5 %–10 % around the optimal retrieval SSA allowed SWE retrievals within a tolerance of ±30 mm. Where snowpacks were deeper than ∼30 cm, accurate values of representative SSA for depth hoar became critical as retrieval errors were exceeded if the median depth hoar SSA was applied. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
N. Rutter M. J. Sandells C. Derksen J. King P. Toose L. Wake T. Watts R. Essery A. Roy A. Royer P. Marsh C. Larsen M. Sturm |
author_facet |
N. Rutter M. J. Sandells C. Derksen J. King P. Toose L. Wake T. Watts R. Essery A. Roy A. Royer P. Marsh C. Larsen M. Sturm |
author_sort |
N. Rutter |
title |
Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals |
title_short |
Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals |
title_full |
Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals |
title_fullStr |
Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals |
title_sort |
effect of snow microstructure variability on ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/3045/2019/tc-13-3045-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/382dc27a16764cf9bfc1330c80c1a708 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-133.415,-133.415,68.772,68.772) ENVELOPE(-138.324,-138.324,63.326,63.326) |
geographic |
Canada Trail Valley Creek Valley Creek |
geographic_facet |
Canada Trail Valley Creek Valley Creek |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 13, Pp 3045-3059 (2019) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/3045/2019/tc-13-3045-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/article/382dc27a16764cf9bfc1330c80c1a708 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
3045 |
op_container_end_page |
3059 |
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1766216394950574080 |