SnowTinel high-temporal-resolution ground truth dataset for SAR remote sensing of snow

Currently, this dataset is intended solely for article review purposes and may not be used for any other purposes.

This dataset consists of a series of full snow profiles collected at the field site of Weissfluhjoch, Davos, Switzerland over the two snow seasons of 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. This series of snow profiles was collected with a high vertical and temporal resolution, with a specific focus on the melting seasons, during which up to 3 snow profiles per week were sampled. This dataset is part of the measurement campaign carried out within the SnowTinel project, whose aim is to explore the Sentinel-1 SAR backscattering response to melting Alpine snowpacks. Therefore, this dataset contains manual measurements of the main properties of snow which are responsible for scattering, i.e. temperature, density, specific surface area (SSA), liquid water content (LWC), surface roughness and snow water equivalent (SWE).

The dataset is composed of a total of 85 snow profiles, 38 carried out in 2022-2023 and 47 in 2023-2024. - Profiles of snow temperature were sampled at a vertical resolution of 10 cm (2022-2023) and 5 cm (2023-2024) using HI98501 Checktemp from Hanna Instruments; - Profiles of snow density were sampled at a vertical resolution of 3 cm using a box density cutter and a digital scale; - Profiles of snow specific surface area were sampled at a vertical resolution of 4 cm using the InfraSnow sensor from FPGA; - Profiles of snow liquid water content were sampled at a vertical resolution of 2 cm using the Denothmeter (2022-2023) and the New Capacitive Sensor from FPGA (2023-2024). In conditions of ripe snow, dielectric measurements were backed up by melting calorimetry measurements following a recently revised field protocol; - Snow surface roughness is expressed by the Root Mean Square of the Heights (RMSH) and the correlation length (CL), both computed from a digitized snow transect obtained by a digital photograph of a panel vertically inserted into the snow. - Snow water equivalent was sampled in sections from the surface to the bottom of the snowpack with a cylinder cutter.

Additionally, runoff was automatically measured in the close proximity to the measurement field at a sub-hourly resolution by a lysimeter. The instrument was unfortunately discovered to be clogged at the start of the runoff in 2023 and only repaired in late May 2023. Therefore, the time series is not explanatory for the runoff start in 2023. The instrument was inspected timely and assessed as fully functional for the following snow season. The manually measured values of SWE are complemented by an automatically recorded time series at sub-hourly time intervals with a SSG1000 snow scale manufactured by Sommer Messtechnik, Austria.

• References:

• HI98501 Checktemp: https://www.hannainstruments.co.uk/modules/teapotknowledgehub/uploads/ist98501_06_18-60d496ca2cd31.pdf

• InfraSnow sensor: Wolfsperger, Fabian & Ziegler, Silvio & Schneebeli, Martin & Löwe, Henning. (2022). Evaluation of the InfraSnow: a handheld device to measure snow specific surface (SSA). 10.13140/RG.2.2.31566.95047; https://snow-sen.com/infrasnow-ssa-sensor-2/
• Denothmeter: Denoth, A. “An Electronic Device for Long-Term Snow Wetness Recording.” Annals of Glaciology 19 (1994): 104–6. https://doi.org/10.3189/S0260305500011058
• New Capacitive Sensor: Wolfsperger, Fabian & Geisser, Michel & Ziegler, Silvio & Löwe, Henning. (2023). A NEW HANDHELD CAPACITIVE SENSOR TO MEASURE SNOW DENSITY AND LIQUID WATER CONTENT; https://snow-sen.com/slf-snowpro-40/
• Melting calorimetry: Barella, R., Bavay, M., Carletti, F., Ciapponi, N., Premier, V., and Marin, C.: Unlocking the potential of melting calorimetry: a field protocol for liquid water content measurement in snow, The Cryosphere, 18, 5323–5345, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5323-2024, 2024.
• Surface roughness: B. Riccardo, C. Marin, M. Callegari, M. Gianinetto, T. Moranduzzo and C. Notarnicola, "A Low-Cost Portable Automatic System for Snow Surface Roughness Measurements Based on Digital Photography," 2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium IGARSS, Brussels, Belgium, 2021, pp. 5562-5565, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS47720.2021.9553989.
• SSG: https://www.sommer.at/de/produkte/schnee-eis/schneewaage-ssg-2

• Swiss National Science Foundation (link) (Grant/Award: 20021-205190)

Carletti, F., Marin, C., Ghielmini, C., Bavay, M., and Lehning, M.: Multitemporal analysis of Sentinel-1 backscattering during snow melt using high-resolution field measurements and radiative transfer modeling, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-974, 2025.