An 18-yr long (1993–2011) snow and meteorological dataset from a mid-altitude mountain site (Col de Porte, France, 1325 m alt.) for driving and evaluating snowpack models

Abstract

A quality-controlled snow and meteorological dataset spanning the period 1 August 1993-31 July 2011 is presented, originating from the experimental station Col de Porte (1325 m altitude, Chartreuse range, France). Emphasis is placed on meteorological data relevant to the observation and modelling of the seasonal snowpack. In-situ driving data, at the hourly resolution, consist of measurements of air temperature, relative humidity, windspeed, incoming short-wave and long-wave radiation, precipitation rate partitioned between snow-and rainfall, with a focus on the snow-dominated season. Meteorological data for the three summer months (generally from 10 June to 20 September), when the continuity of the field record is not warranted, are taken from a local meteorological reanalysis (SAFRAN), in order to provide a continuous and consistent gapfree record. Data relevant to snowpack properties are provided at the daily (snow depth, snow water equivalent, runoff and albedo) and hourly (snow depth, albedo, runoff, surface temperature, soil temperature) time resolution. Internal snowpack information is provided from weekly manual snowpit observations (mostly consisting in penetration resistance, snow type, snow temperature and density profiles) and from a hourly record of temperature and height of vertically free "settling" disks. This dataset has been partially used in the past to assist in developing snowpack models and is presented here comprehensively for the purpose of multi-year model performance assessment. The data is placed on the PANGAEA repository (doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.774249) as well as on the public ftp server ftp://ftp-cnrm.meteo.fr/pub-cencdp/.

Sodankylä manual snow survey program

“…Two measurement sites, Weissfluhjoch in Switzerland (Marty and Meister, 2012) and Col de Porte in France (Morin et al, 2012), are presented in the literature. Manual snow measurements have been made at the Weissfluhjoch site since 1936.…”

“…Measurements at the Col de Porte site were made in 1993-2011. Weekly snow pit measurements included penetration resistance with ram sonde, temperature, density, snow type, LWC and grain size (Morin et al, 2012).…”

Centimetric Accuracy in Snow Depth Using Unmanned Aerial System Photogrammetry and a MultiStation

“…Both variables are often measured with snow pits and manual probing [2], which are both time consuming and risky in avalanche-prone, remote areas. HS can be also measured using ultrasonic [3] or laser [4] sensors, while SWE can be monitored using snow pillows [5] or cosmic rays [4]. The significance of local measurements has been often debated [6][7][8][9][10], especially in view of the marked spatial variability of snow processes [11][12][13][14].…”

A Particle Filter scheme for multivariate data assimilation into a point-scale snowpack model in Alpine environment

“…This choice has allowed to reliably investigate the filter performance regardless of possible 5 inconsistent measures, since generally the in-situ observations are extensively verified through a quality control and data gaps filling (Morin et al, 2012;Essery et al, 2013;Lafaysse et al, 2017). Since the strategic requirements conditioning the placement of the test sites entail slightly impacting local features affecting the spatial snow distribution (e.g.…”

“…Along with weekly manual SWE measurements, since the season 2001-2002 SWE is automatically measured on a 25 daily basis by a ground-based cosmic rays counter. Hourly snow albedo data are estimated through the radiation sensors, as the ratio between incoming and reflected shortwave radiation (Morin et al, 2012). Moreover, measurements of snow surface and soil temperatures are hourly available.…”