Premium
Retrieving snow mass from GRACE terrestrial water storage change with a land surface model
Author(s) -
Niu GuoYue,
Seo KiWeon,
Yang ZongLiang,
Wilson Clark,
Su Hua,
Chen Jianli,
Rodell Matthew
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl030413
Subject(s) - snow , environmental science , snowpack , arctic , boreal , water storage , taiga , climate change , climatology , hydrology (agriculture) , meteorology , geology , geography , oceanography , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , forestry , inlet
A reliable snow water equivalent (SWE) product is critical for climate and hydrology studies in Arctic regions. Passive microwave sensors aboard satellites provide a capability of observing global SWE and have produced many SWE datasets. However, these datasets have significant errors in boreal forest regions and where snowpack is deep or wet. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites are measuring changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS), of which snow mass is the primary component in winter Arctic river basins. This paper shows SWE can be derived from GRACE TWS change in regions where the ground is not covered by snow in a summer month if accurate changes in below‐ground water storage (including soil water and groundwater) can be provided by a land surface model. Based on gravity change, the GRACE‐derived SWE estimates are not affected by the boreal forest canopy and are more accurate in deep snow regions than microwave retrievals. The paper also discusses the uncertainties in the SWE retrievals.