Characterizing ICESat‐2 Snow Depths Over the Boreal Forests and Tundra of Alaska in Support of the SnowEx 2023 Campaign.
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| Název: | Characterizing ICESat‐2 Snow Depths Over the Boreal Forests and Tundra of Alaska in Support of the SnowEx 2023 Campaign. |
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| Autoři: | Fair, Zachary, Vuyovich, Carrie, Neumann, Thomas, Larsen, Chrisopher F., Stuefer, Svetlana, Mason, Megan, May, Lora |
| Zdroj: | Water Resources Research; Dec2025, Vol. 61 Issue 12, p1-17, 17p |
| Témata: | TUNDRAS, LIDAR, SNOW accumulation, ARTIFICIAL satellites, TAIGAS, ARCTIC climate, OPEN source software |
| Geografický termín: | FAIRBANKS (Alaska), ALASKA |
| Korporace: | UNITED States. National Aeronautics & Space Administration |
| Abstrakt: | Recent studies show that the Ice, Clouds, and Land Elevation Satellite‐2 (ICESat‐2) can achieve decimeter‐level accuracy over forested and mountainous sites in the western United States, as well as over the glaciers of Alaska. However, there has yet to be an assessment on ICESat‐2 snow depths over the boreal forests and tundra of Alaska, both of which are significant reservoirs of snow during the winter season. We present two case studies of retrieving snow depth using ICESat‐2 over Alaska. We focus on two field sites used by the NASA SnowEx 2022/2023 campaigns: Farmer's Loop/Creamer's Field near Fairbanks, AK (forest) and Upper Kuparuk/Toolik on the Arctic North Slope (tundra). When validated against airborne LiDAR flown by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF), we find median biases of −6.3 to +2.1 cm among three ICESat‐2 data products in the tundra region. Biases over the boreal forest are higher at 7.5–13 cm. Utilizing the open source tool SlideRule, we observe little change in results when filtering by the ICESat‐2 signal photon confidence scheme or by the vegetation filter. However, uncertainties in snow depth decrease with coarser Sliderule‐derived snow depths. The number of signal photons (i.e., signal strength) has an influence on retrievals, with a large number of photons per ICESat‐2 return providing more accurate snow depths. The initial results are promising, and we expect to expand this effort to other ICESat‐2 overpasses over the SnowEx field sites. Plain Language Summary: The Ice, Clouds, and Land Elevation Satellite‐2 (ICESat‐2) has been shown to perform accurate measurements of snow depth at select locations across the globe, including the western United States and southern Alaska. However, the boreal forests and tundra of Alaska, both of which are the dominant landscapes in the state, need to be assessed with ICESat‐2. In this study, we present two case studies of using ICESat‐2 to retrieve snow depth over Alaska. We focus on two field sites used by the NASA SnowEx 2022/2023 campaigns: one near Fairbanks, AK (forest), and another in northern Alaska (tundra). When compared to snow depths derived from airborne LiDAR, we find accurate results over the Alaskan tundra. Results over the boreal forests are less certain, though remain reasonably accurate. The boreal forest results improve when we utilize an open‐source tool to filter and refine the ICESat‐2 data. The initial results are promising, and we expect to expand this effort to other ICESat‐2 overpasses over the SnowEx field sites. Key Points: Centimeter‐level accuracy is possible with ICESat‐2 snow depths over the Alaskan tundraICESat‐2 snow depths have decimeter‐level accuracy in the Alaskan boreal forests, with the best results from SlideRuleUsing SlideRule photon filters for resolution, vegetation, and signal strength improve ICESat‐2 snow depth accuracy over boreal forests [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Databáze: | Biomedical Index |
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