SnowTinel: High-Resolution Snow Profiles for SAR Remote Sensing Validation

85 snow profiles collected at Weissfluhjoch, Davos, Switzerland over the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 snow seasons. The dataset contains manual measurements of temperature, density, specific surface area, liquid water content, surface roughness, and snow water equivalent. It was created by ENVIDAT as part of the SnowTinel project to explore Sentinel-1 SAR backscattering response to melting Alpine snowpacks.

Use Cases

• Validate SAR snow backscattering models based on detailed snow property profiles.
• Analyze snow melt dynamics based on high-temporal-resolution profiles collected during melting seasons.
• Correlate satellite remote sensing signals with ground-measured liquid water content and specific surface area.
• Study seasonal snowpack evolution in Alpine environments based on two consecutive years of data.

Strengths

• Contains 85 detailed snow profiles (38 from 2022-2023, 47 from 2023-2024).
• Focuses on melting seasons with up to 3 profiles sampled per week.
• Measures multiple scattering-relevant properties (temperature, density, SSA, LWC, roughness, SWE) with high vertical resolution (2-10 cm).
• Includes complementary automated time-series data for runoff and SWE.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The 2023 runoff time series is incomplete due to instrument clogging at the start of the season.

Provenance

Source

ENVIDAT

Collection Method

Manual field measurements collected as part of the SnowTinel project.

Time Range

2022-2023 and 2023-2024 snow seasons.

Freshness

Last updated 2025-01-01 00:00:00; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Weissfluhjoch, Davos, Switzerland.