SnowPEx+: The International Snow Products Intercomparison and Evaluation Excercise 2015-2020
- 1ENVEO IT GmbH, Innsbruck, Austria (thomas.nagler@enveo.at)
- *A full list of authors appears at the end of the abstract
Satellite observations are the only means for timely and complete observations of the global snow cover. A range of different satellite snow products is available, the performance of which is of vital interest for the global user community. We provide an overview on goals and activities of the SnowPEx+ initiative, dedicated to the intercomparison of northern hemispheric and global satellite snow products, derived from data of long-term operational as well as recently launched satellites. SnowPEx+ is the continuation of SnowPEx (2014-2017), carried out as an international collaborative effort under the umbrella of Global Cryosphere Watch / WMO and funded by ESA.
SnowPEx+ focuses on two parameters of the seasonal snowpack, the snow extent (SE) from medium resolution optical satellite data (Sentinel-3, VIIRS, MODIS, AVHRR, etc.) and the snow water equivalent (SWE) from passive microwave satellite data. Overall, 15 hemispheric and global SE products (binary and fractional SE) and two SWE products are participating in the experiment. For intercomparison, daily SE products are transformed to a common map projection and standardized SnowPEx protocols are applied, elaborated by the international snow product community. The SE product evaluation applies statistical measures for quantifying the agreement between the various products, including the analysis of spatial patterns. Validation of SE products uses as benchmark high resolution snow maps from about 150 globally distributed Landsat scenes acquired in different climate zones, under different solar illumination conditions and over various land cover types. This snow reference data set, based on various retrieval algorithms, is generated and evaluated by the SnowPEx+ High Resolution Snow Products Focus Group. In-situ snow data from several organisations in Europe, North America and Asia are also used for validating the satellite SE and SWE products. SWE products are also inter-compared with gridded snow products from land surface models driven by atmospheric reanalysis data. In addition, the multi-year trends of the various SE and SWE products are evaluated. We provide an overview on the snow products, discuss the validation and intercomparison protocols, and report on preliminary results from the intercomparison and validation of various snow products.
Derksen Chris, Environmental and Climate Change Canada, chris.derksen@canada.ca Felbauer Lucia, ENVEO IT GmbH, lucia.felbauer@enveo.at Keuris Lars, ENVEO IT GmbH, lars.keuris@enveo.at Luojus Kari, Finnish Meteorological Institute, kari.luojus@fmi.fi Metsämäki Sari, Finnish Environment Institute, sari.metsamaki@syke.fi Moisander Mikko, Finnish Meteorological Institute, mikko.moisander@fmi.fi Mölg Nico, ENVEO IT GmbH, nico.moelg@enveo.at Mortimer Colleen, Environmental and Climate Change Canada, colleen.mortimer@canada.ca Mudryk Lawrence, Environmental and Climate Change Canada, lawrence.mudryk@canada.ca Rott Helmut, ENVEO IT GmbH, helmut.rott@enveo.at Schwaizer Gabriele, ENVEO IT GmbH, gabriele.schwaizer@enveo.at Venäläinen Pinja, Finnish Meteorological Institute, pinja.venalainen@fmi.fi Appel Igor, TAG LLC, iappel@earthlink.net Bair Edward, University of California, Santa Barbara, nbair@eri.ucsb.edu Che Tao, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, chetao@kzb.ac.cn Clark Walter, NOAA Ice Services Branch, walter.clark@noaa.gov Crawford Christopher, USGS / EROS, cjcrawford@usgs.gov de Rosnay Patricia, ECMWF, Patricia.Rosnay@ecmwf.int Siljamo Niilo, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Niilo.Siljamo@fmi.fi Dozier Jeff, University of California, Santa Barbara, docier@ucsb.edu Eunsang Cho, NASA GFSC, Univ Maryland, eunsang.cho@nasa.gov Hall Dorothy, University of Maryland, dkhall1@umd.edu Kelly Richard, University of Waterloo, rejkelly@uwaterloo.ca Masahiro Hori, University of Toyama, mhori@sus.u-toyama.ac.jp Painter Thomas, University of California, tpainter@jifresse.ucla.edu Riggs George, Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI), george.a.riggs@nasa.gov Rittger Karl, University of Colorado, Boulder, karl.rittger@colorado.edu Robinson David, Rutgers University, david.robinson@rutgers.edu Romanov Peter, NOAA/NESDIS, peter.romanov@noaa.gov Scheiblauer Stefan, ENVEO IT, stefan.scheiblauer@enveo.at Solberg Rune, Norsk Regnesentral Norwegian Computer Center (NR), rune.solberg@nr.no Stillinger Timbo, University of California, Santa Barbara, tcs@ucsb.edu Vuyowich Carrie, NASA GFC; carrie.m.vuyovich@nasa.gov Wisniewski Elzbieta, University of Arizona, ela@ltrr.arizona.edu Kern Michael, ESA, michael.kern@esa.int Trofaier Anna Maria, ESA, anna.maria.trofaier@esa.int Goryl Philippe, ESA, Philippe.Goryl@esa.int
How to cite: Nagler, T. and the SnowPEx Team: SnowPEx+: The International Snow Products Intercomparison and Evaluation Excercise 2015-2020, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7319, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7319, 2022.
