October 2022 vertical profiles of snow reflectance and specific surface area (SSA) collected as part of the NASA SnowEx 2023 Alaska field campaign. The data was measured in situ using a 1310 nm integrating sphere laser device (IceCube) from three snow pits in the Upper Kuparuk Toolik coastal tundra site on Alaska's North Slope. The dataset is provided by NSIDC_CPRD and was last updated on October 24, 2022.
Use Cases
- Modeling snow albedo and radiative transfer based on specific surface area profiles.
- Analyzing seasonal snowpack evolution in coastal tundra environments based on reflectance measurements.
- Calibrating satellite remote sensing data for snow-covered regions based on in-situ microstructure data.
- Studying the relationship between snow microstructure and climate variables in Arctic ecosystems.
Strengths
- Data is part of a coordinated NASA SnowEx field campaign, suggesting a structured collection methodology.
- Measurements are from a specific coastal tundra environment (Upper Kuparuk Toolik) on Alaska's North Slope, providing geographic context.
- SSA is derived from in-situ reflectance measurements using a documented method (Gallet et al., 2009).
Limitations
- Row count, column definitions, and file formats are unknown, which limits suitability assessment.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the single field site in northern Alaska.
Provenance
- Source
- NSIDC_CPRD
- Collection Method
- In-situ measurements using a 1310 nm integrating sphere laser device (IceCube) from three snow pits.
- Time Range
- October 2022
- Freshness
- Last updated 2022-10-24 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Upper Kuparuk Toolik field site, a coastal tundra environment in the North Slope region of northern Alaska.