Dataset: ESA Snow Climate Change Initiative (Snow_cci): Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) level 3C daily global climate research data package (CRDP) (1979 – 2020), version 2.0#

Dataset identifier: esacci.SNOW.day.L3C.SWE.multi-sensor.multi-platform.MERGED.2-0.r1
Data store: cciodp

How to open this dataset in AVL JupyterLab  

cciodp_store = new_data_store('cciodp')
ds = cciodp_store.open_data('esacci.SNOW.day.L3C.SWE.multi-sensor.multi-platform.MERGED.2-0.r1')

Bounding box map#

Bounding box map
Map tiles and data from OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL.

Basic information#

Parameter Value
Bounding box longitude (°) -180.0 to 180.0
Bounding box latitude (°) -90.0 to 90.0
Time range 1979-01-02 to 2020-05-24
Time period 1D

Click here for full dataset metadata.

Variable list#

Click on a variable name to jump to the variable’s full metadata.

Variable Long name Units
swe Snow Water Equivalent mm
swe_std statistical standard deviation of estimate mm
spatial_ref Coordinate reference system definition [none]

Full variable metadata#

swe#

Field Value
missing_value -100000
long_name Snow Water Equivalent
grid_mapping spatial_ref
units mm
coordinates lat lon time
valid_range 1, 500
flag_values -30, -20, -10, -1, 0
flag_meanings Glacier Mountain Water no_data no_snow
ancillary_variables swe_std
actual_range 1, 201
orig_data_type int32
fill_value -100000
size 51412320000
shape 7934, 1800, 3600
chunk_sizes 1, 600, 1200
file_chunk_sizes 1, 600, 1200
data_type int32
dimensions time, lat, lon
file_dimensions time, lat, lon

swe_std#

Field Value
missing_value -100000
long_name statistical standard deviation of estimate
grid_mapping spatial_ref
units mm
coordinates lat lon time
valid_range 1, 250
flag_values -30, -20, -10, -1, 0
flag_meanings Glacier Mountain Water no_data no_snow
actual_range 0, 72
orig_data_type int32
fill_value -100000
size 51412320000
shape 7934, 1800, 3600
chunk_sizes 1, 600, 1200
file_chunk_sizes 1, 600, 1200
data_type int32
dimensions time, lat, lon
file_dimensions time, lat, lon

spatial_ref#

Field Value
inverse_flattening 298.257223563
spatial_ref GEOGCS[\"WGS 84\",DATUM[\"WGS_1984\",SPHEROID[\"WGS 84\",6378137,298.257223563,AUTHORITY[\"EPSG\",\"7030\"]],AUTHORITY[\"EPSG\",\"6326\"]],PRIMEM[\"Greenwich\",0,AUTHORITY[\"EPSG\",\"8901\"]],UNIT[\"degree\",0.0174532925199433,AUTHORITY[\"EPSG\",\"9122\"]],AUTHORITY[\"EPSG\",\"4326\"]]
semi_major_axis 6378137.0
GeoTransform 0 0.1 0 180 0 -0.1
long_name Coordinate reference system definition
grid_mapping_name latitude_longitude
longitude_of_prime_meridian 0
orig_data_type int32
fill_value 9223372036854775807
size 1
shape 1
chunk_sizes 1
file_chunk_sizes 1
data_type int64
dimensions
file_dimensions

Full dataset metadata#

Field Value
source SMMR brightness temperature data from 19 & 37GHz channels. WMO synoptic in-situ snow depth measurements, daily averages
references http://snow-cci.enveo.at/
product_version 2-0
comment The following auxiliary datasets are used for product generation: ESA CCI Land Cover from 2000: water bodies aggregated to the pixel spacing of the SWE product and, providing percentage (0-100)% of water within pixel, with 50% threshold used for this version of the product. ETOPO5 based mountain mask for northern hemisphere, first produced for needs of ESA_GlobSnow project.
project Climate Change Initiative European Space Agency
history 20220207T140902Z: ESA snow_cci SWE processing line, version CP3 v2.0, Dynamic snow density, PMW-snow melt mask
title ESA Snow Climate Change Initiative (Snow_cci): Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) level 3C daily global climate research data package (CRDP) (1979 – 2020), version 2.0
ecv SNOW
institute Finnish Meteorological Institute
processing_level L3C
product_string MERGED
data_type SWE
abstract This dataset contains v2.0 of the Daily Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) product from the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Snow project, at 0.1 degree resolution. Snow water equivalent (SWE) indicates the amount of accumulated snow on land surfaces, in other words the amount of water contained within the snowpack. The SWE product time series covers the period from 1979/01 to 2020/05. Northern Hemisphere SWE products are available at daily temporal resolution with alpine areas masked. The product is based on data from the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) operated on National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Nimbus-7 satellite, the Special Sensor Microwave / Imager (SSM/I) and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager / Sounder (SSMI/S) carried onboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) 5D- and F-series satellites. The satellite bands provide spatial resolutions between 15 and 69 km. The retrieval methodology combines satellite passive microwave radiometer (PMR) measurements with ground-based synoptic weather station observations by Bayesian non-linear iterative assimilation. A background snow-depth field from re-gridded surface snow-depth observations and a passive microwave emission model are required components of the retrieval scheme. The dataset is aimed to serve the needs of users working on climate research and monitoring activities, including the detection of variability and trends, climate modelling, and aspects of hydrology and meteorology. The Finnish Meteorological Institute is responsible for the SWE product development and generation. For the period from 1979 to May 1987, the products are available every second day. From October 1987 till May 2020, the products are available daily. Products are only generated for the Northern Hemisphere winter seasons, usually from beginning of October till the middle of May. A limited number of SWE products are available for days in June and September; products are not available for the months July and August as there is usually no snow information reported on synoptic weather stations, which is required as input for the SWE retrieval. Because of known limitations in alpine terrain, a complex-terrain mask is applied based on the sub-grid variability in elevation determined from a high-resolution digital elevation model. All land ice and large lakes are also masked; retrievals are not produced for coastal regions of Greenland. This version 2 dataset has some notable differences compared to the v1 data. In v2, passive microwave radiometer data are obtained from the recalibrated enhanced resolution CETB ESDR dataset (MEaSUREs Calibrated Enhanced-Resolution Passive Microwave Daily EASE-Grid 2.0 Brightness Temperature (CETB) Earth System Data Record (ESDR) https://nsidc.org/pmesdr/data-sets/), the grid spacing is reduced from 25 km to 12.5 km, and spatially and temporally varying snow density fields are used to adjust SWE retrievals in post processing. The output grid spacing is reduced from 0.25-degree to 0.10-degree WGS84 latitude / longitude to be compatible with other Snow_cci products. The time series has been extended by two years with data from 2018 to 2020 added. The ESA CCI phased product development framework allowed for a systematic analysis of these changes to the input data and snow density parameterization that occurred between v1 and v2 using a series of step-wise developmental datasets. In comparison with in-situ snow courses, the correlation and RMSE of v2 improved 18% (0.1) and 12% (5mm), respectively, relative to v1. The timing of peak snow mass is shifted two weeks later and a temporal discontinuity in the monthly northern hemisphere snow mass time series associated with the shift from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) in 2009 is removed in v2.
publication_date 2022-03-17T09:58:00
uuid 4647cc9ad3c044439d6c643208d3c494
catalog_url https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/4647cc9ad3c044439d6c643208d3c494
sensor_id multi-sensor
platform_id multi-platform
cci_project SNOW