Snow products for assimilation and verification

Clifford, D. J. (2009) Snow products for assimilation and verification. In: ECMWF / GLASS Workshop on Land Surface Modelling and Data Assimilation and the implications for predictability, , 9-12 November 2009, Shinfield Park, Reading, pp. 115-122.

Abstract/Summary

Snow is an important component of the land surface, and the choice of products for assimilation or verification can have a large impact on the surface analysis. This paper introduces the many sources of snow data that are currently available, both in situ and from remote sensing from space, along with some recent developments. Snow extent products are derived from the biggest range of sensors and are the most widely used, while information on snow mass from space is still too error-prone to be used successfully in assimilation schemes.