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 9 trenches) collec...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2019
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Online Access: | https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/9/tc-13-3045-2019.pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/1/Rutter%20et%20al%20-%20Effect%20of%20snow%20microstructure%20variability%20on%20Ku-band%20radar%20snow%20water%20equivalent%20retrievals%20AAM.pdf |
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ftunivnorthumb:oai:nrl.northumbria.ac.uk:41050 2023-05-15T18:32:35+02:00 Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals Rutter, Nick Sandells, Melody Derksen, Chris King, Josh Toose, Peter Wake, Leanne Watts, Tom Essery, Richard Roy, Alexandre Royer, Alain Marsh, Philip Larsen, Chris Sturm, Matthew 2019-11-19 text https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/9/tc-13-3045-2019.pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/1/Rutter%20et%20al%20-%20Effect%20of%20snow%20microstructure%20variability%20on%20Ku-band%20radar%20snow%20water%20equivalent%20retrievals%20AAM.pdf en eng Copernicus Publications https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/9/tc-13-3045-2019.pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/1/Rutter%20et%20al%20-%20Effect%20of%20snow%20microstructure%20variability%20on%20Ku-band%20radar%20snow%20water%20equivalent%20retrievals%20AAM.pdf Rutter, Nick, Sandells, Melody, Derksen, Chris, King, Josh, Toose, Peter, Wake, Leanne, Watts, Tom, Essery, Richard, Roy, Alexandre, Royer, Alain, Marsh, Philip, Larsen, Chris and Sturm, Matthew (2019) Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals. The Cryosphere, 13 (11). pp. 3045-3059. ISSN 1994-0416 cc_by_4_0 CC-BY F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Article PeerReviewed 2019 ftunivnorthumb https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019 2022-09-25T06:10:52Z 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 9 trenches) collected over two winters at Trail Valley Creek, NWT, Canada, were applied in synthetic radiative transfer experiments. This allowed 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 of total snowpack thickness approximated that of wind slab layers. Mean horizontal correlation lengths of layer thickness were sub-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 <0.6m, 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 ~30cm, 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 Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) 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 |
Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnorthumb |
language |
English |
topic |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Rutter, Nick Sandells, Melody Derksen, Chris King, Josh Toose, Peter Wake, Leanne Watts, Tom Essery, Richard Roy, Alexandre Royer, Alain Marsh, Philip Larsen, Chris Sturm, Matthew Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals |
topic_facet |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
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 9 trenches) collected over two winters at Trail Valley Creek, NWT, Canada, were applied in synthetic radiative transfer experiments. This allowed 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 of total snowpack thickness approximated that of wind slab layers. Mean horizontal correlation lengths of layer thickness were sub-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 <0.6m, 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 ~30cm, 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 |
Rutter, Nick Sandells, Melody Derksen, Chris King, Josh Toose, Peter Wake, Leanne Watts, Tom Essery, Richard Roy, Alexandre Royer, Alain Marsh, Philip Larsen, Chris Sturm, Matthew |
author_facet |
Rutter, Nick Sandells, Melody Derksen, Chris King, Josh Toose, Peter Wake, Leanne Watts, Tom Essery, Richard Roy, Alexandre Royer, Alain Marsh, Philip Larsen, Chris Sturm, Matthew |
author_sort |
Rutter, Nick |
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://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/9/tc-13-3045-2019.pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/1/Rutter%20et%20al%20-%20Effect%20of%20snow%20microstructure%20variability%20on%20Ku-band%20radar%20snow%20water%20equivalent%20retrievals%20AAM.pdf |
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_relation |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/9/tc-13-3045-2019.pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41050/1/Rutter%20et%20al%20-%20Effect%20of%20snow%20microstructure%20variability%20on%20Ku-band%20radar%20snow%20water%20equivalent%20retrievals%20AAM.pdf Rutter, Nick, Sandells, Melody, Derksen, Chris, King, Josh, Toose, Peter, Wake, Leanne, Watts, Tom, Essery, Richard, Roy, Alexandre, Royer, Alain, Marsh, Philip, Larsen, Chris and Sturm, Matthew (2019) Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals. The Cryosphere, 13 (11). pp. 3045-3059. ISSN 1994-0416 |
op_rights |
cc_by_4_0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
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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1766216797169647616 |