Winter UAV Land Surface Albedo Measurements Over Swiss and Finnish Forests

Land Surface Albedo (LSA) data collected via an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system with up and downlooking shortwave radiation sensors. The dataset was gathered across a range of forest structures and solar angles in Switzerland (Davos Laret) and Finland (Sodankylä) and is associated with a 2021 JGR-Atmospheres paper by Malle et al. The data includes measured LSA, incoming and reflected shortwave radiation, sunlit snow-view fraction, and associated angle and time measurements for each waypoint.

Use Cases

• Validate Community Land Model (CLM5) simulations based on in-situ LSA measurements.
• Analyze the effect of forest canopy structure on albedo based on data collected across diverse structures.
• Study the relationship between solar angles (zenith, azimuth) and albedo based on the provided angle measurements.
• Investigate regional albedo differences in winter snow conditions based on data from Switzerland and Finland.

Strengths

• Data is tied to a peer-reviewed scientific publication (JGR-Atmospheres, 2021), providing methodological context.
• Covers a large range of forest structures and solar angles, suggesting diversity in conditions.
• Includes multiple measured variables per waypoint: LSA, incoming/reflected SWR, sunlit snow-view fraction, and angles.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last updated 2021-01-01 00:00:00; freshness should be verified.
• Row count, file formats, and exact data size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

ENVIDAT

Collection Method

Collected via a UAV system with up and downlooking shortwave radiation sensors.

Time Range

Data collection timeframe is not specified, but associated with a 2021 publication.

Freshness

Last updated 2021-01-01 00:00:00.

Geography

Switzerland (Davos Laret) and Finland (Sodankylä).