The Cryosphere
The Cryosphere
TC
Articles | Volume 13, issue 11
Articles | Volume 13, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3045-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 13, issue 11
Research article
 | 
19 Nov 2019
Research article |  | 19 Nov 2019

Effect of snow microstructure variability on Ku-band radar snow water equivalent retrievals

Nick Rutter, Melody J. Sandells, Chris Derksen, Joshua King, Peter Toose, Leanne Wake, Tom Watts, Richard Essery, Alexandre Roy, Alain Royer, Philip Marsh, Chris Larsen, and Matthew Sturm

Data sets

Snow pits and trenches N. Rutter https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8397737.v2

Lidar snow depths C. Larsen https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8397467.v1

Air temperatures Environment Canada https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8397419.v1

Catchment topography and locations of snow pits / trenches P. Toose https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8397023.v1

Model code and software

Code and data to generate outputs from the Snow Microwave Radiative Transfer model M. Sandells and N. Rutter https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9947123.v1

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Short summary
Impact of natural variability in Arctic tundra snow microstructural characteristics on the capacity to estimate snow water equivalent (SWE) from Ku-band radar was assessed. Median values of metrics quantifying snow microstructure adequately characterise differences between snowpack layers. Optimal estimates of SWE required microstructural values slightly less than the measured median but tolerated natural variability for accurate estimation of SWE in shallow snowpacks.
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