Alaska snow pit measurements collected during NASA SnowEx March 2023 Intensive Observation Period. 170 snow pits were excavated across five sites representing boreal forest and Arctic tundra snow conditions near Fairbanks. The data set was collected for calibration and validation with coincident airborne SWESARR and lidar measurements.
Use Cases
- Validate airborne SWESARR measurements based on ground-truth snow pit data
- Calibrate lidar snow depth measurements based on in-situ snow depth measurements
- Analyze snow property variability based on range of snow depth, vegetation, and topographic conditions
- Model snow water equivalence (SWE) in boreal forest and Arctic tundra environments
Strengths
- 170 snow pit measurements provide a substantial ground-truth sample
- Data covers five distinct sites representing boreal forest and Arctic tundra conditions
- Collection was timed for the March 2023 Intensive Observation Period, ensuring temporal alignment with airborne data
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to nasa_earthdata, focusing on specific Alaskan regions
Provenance
- Source
- NSIDC_CPRD
- Collection Method
- Snow pit excavation and measurement during NASA SnowEx Intensive Observation Period.
- Time Range
- March 2023
- Freshness
- Last updated 2023-03-16 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified
- Geography
- Alaska, USA: Farmers Loop Creamers Field, Caribou Poker Creek Research Watershed, Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest, Arctic Coastal Plain, Upper Kuparuk Toolik.