Data

Here we provide datasets being generated by our group and/or links to relevant datasets used in our work. In particular we are working on the development of so-called "snow reanalysis" datasets. These are novel datasets that merge meteorological datasets, remote sensing data, and snow model estimates to generate probabilistic estimates of snow variables in mountainous domains. Provisional and permanent datasets (or their appropriate links) will be kept here as datasets become publicly available.

Sierra Nevada Snow Reanalysis

We have been working on the development of a snow reanalysis dataset for the Sierra Nevada in the Western US. This mountain range provides a significant amount of water to CA in the form of spring-time snowmelt. We have recently developed a new method for estimating snow water equivalent (SWE) in space and time over large regions.The methods used are outlined in Margulis et al. (JHM, 2015) and preliminary results are presented in Margulis et al. (JHM, 2016). Follow-on work using the dataset includes: Margulis et al. (GRL, 2016), and Huning and Margulis (2017a), (2017b), and Huning et al. (2017).

Below we provide a link to the first version of the post-processed reanalysis dataset for Water Years 1985-2016. The data, which consists of the static DEM data for the domain, as well as the daily snow water equivalent (SWE) and snow covered area (SCA) is available in HDF5 format. See the README file in the repository (linked to below) for more information on the data and its format.

Sierra Nevada Snow Reanalysis Data Link (note a free sign-up may be required if you don’t already have a Box account)

Links to Relevant External Datasets

The snow reanalysis method uses data from the following sources:

• The ASTER global DEM: http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/
• The National Land Cover Database (NLCD): http://www.mrlc.gov/
• NASA NLDAS-2 Hourly Forcing Dataset: http://ldas.gsfc.nasa.gov/nldas/
• Landsat data from the USGS Earth Explorer: http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/
• Verification data from the California Department of Water Resources Data Exchange Center (CDEC): http://cdec.water.ca.gov/

Andean Snow Reanalysis

We have extended the snow reanalysis methodology to the central Andes in Chile and Argentina as described in Cortes and Margulis et al. (GRL, 2017) Cortes and Margulis et al. (GRL, 2017). Ongoing work is being aimed to characterize SWE over the Andes and how it relates to climate drivers Saavedra et al. (Frontiers in Earth Science, 2020) and other factors.The extension from the more data-rich regions of the Sierra Nevada (USA) to the Andes has also been instrumental in making the methods more generalizable to global scales. Forthcoming datasets derived from these new methods over High-Mountain Asia and the broader Western U.S. should be available soon.

Below we provide a link to the first version of the post-processed reanalysis dataset for Water Years 1985-2015. The data, which consists of the static DEM data for the domain, as well as the daily snow water equivalent (SWE) is available in HDF5 format. See the README file in the repository (linked to below) for more information on the data and its format.

Andes Snow Reanalysis Data Link (note a free sign-up may be required if you don’t already have a Box account)