High Mountain Asia Langtang Snow Properties V001 contains measurements of snow reflectance at 1310 nm, specific surface area, and optical mean radius. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) collected the data on the Yala Glacier in Nepal. Measurements were taken on April 23 and 24, 2018 using the IceCube instrument.
Use Cases
- Model snow albedo using reflectance_at_1310_nm and specific_surface_area measurements.
- Analyze grain size evolution with optical_mean_radius data from two consecutive days.
- Validate satellite snow property retrievals for the Himalayas with ground-truth reflectance_at_1310_nm.
- Study spatial snowpack variability on Yala Glacier using site-specific property measurements.
Strengths
- Data includes three specific snow properties: reflectance at 1310 nm, specific surface area, and optical mean radius.
- Measurements have precise temporal provenance from two consecutive days in April 2018.
- Collection used a specialized instrument, the IceCube, for standardized measurement.
Limitations
- Sample size is limited to measurements from only two days in a single year.
- Geographic coverage is restricted to one glacier site in the Langtang region.
- Dataset contains no information on snow depth, density, or liquid water content.
Provenance
- Source
- International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) via NSIDC_CPRD.
- Collection Method
- Field measurements collected using the IceCube instrument.
- Time Range
- 2018-04 23 to 2018-04-24.
- Freshness
- 2018-04-24
- Geography
- Yala Glacier, Langtang region, Nepal, Himalayas.