AMSRIce03 Snow Pit Data from Arctic Sea Ice

Snow pit data provides measurements of snow properties over sea ice in the Barrow, Alaska area and the Navy Ice Camp in the Arctic Ocean. The dataset is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but documentation was supplied solely by the Principal Investigators. There is a conflict in the last updated date between sources, with one indicating 2026-03-13 and another 2003-03-23.

Use Cases

• Analyzing snow density profiles over sea ice.
• Studying snow stratigraphy and depth hoar formation in the Arctic.
• Calculating snow water equivalent for mass balance studies.
• Investigating ice depth and thickness correlations with overlying snow.
• Validating remote sensing snow property algorithms with in-situ pit data.

Strengths

• Data covers specific locations in the Arctic Ocean and near Barrow, Alaska.
• Includes multiple snow property measurements like density, stratigraphy, and water equivalent.
• Provided by a major space agency (NASA).

Limitations

• Documentation was not reviewed or edited by NSIDC, leading to potential support issues.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2003 vs 2026) create uncertainty about data currency.
• Specific row counts, column names, and file sizes are unknown.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected from snow pits dug over sea ice.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-03 13 18:06:05.462424

Geography

Barrow, Alaska, USA area and Navy Ice Camp in the main pack ice of the Arctic Ocean.