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Comparative Analysis of Snowfall Accumulation and Gauge Undercatch Correction Factors from Diverse Data Sets: In Situ, Satellite, and Reanalysis

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Abstract

Despite its importance for hydrology and water resources, accurate estimation of snowfall rate over snow-covered regions has remained a major observational challenge from both in-situ and remote sensing instruments. Snowfall accumulation can be measured by either accumulating snowfall estimates or measuring snowpack properties such as Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) and mass. By focusing on snowfall over snow accumulation period and using case studies and long-term average (2003 to 2015) over CONUS, this study compares snowfall accumulation from gauge stations (using GPCC and PRISM products), satellite products (GPCP and the suite of IMERG products), and reanalysis (ERA-interim, ERA5, and MERRA-2). Changes in SWE based on the recent UA-SWE product together with mass change observation from GRACE were used for assessment of precipitation products. We also investigated two popular gauge undercatch correction factors (CFs) used to mitigate precipitation undercatch in GPCC and GPCP. The results show that snow accumulation from most of the products is bounded by GPCC with and without correction, highlighting the critical importance of selecting proper CFs for gauge-undercatch correction. The CF based on Legates and Willmott method was found to be more consistent with the SWE-based analysis than CF based on the Fuchs method. Reanalysis show very similar spatial pattern among themselves, but represent large variation in simulating snow accumulation, with ERA-interim showing the least accumulation and MERRA-2 showing the highest accumulation and closest to the snow accumulation suggested by SWE.

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Acknowledgments

The GPCP daily V1.3 was obtained from National Centers for Environmental Information (NESDIS), https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/global-precipitation-climatology-project-gpcp daily/access/, IMERG and MERRA-2 data were obtained Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC). ERA-Interim data was accessed from the ECMWF website, www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/archivedatasets/reanalysis-datasets/era-interim. ERA5 data provided by Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). PRISM was obtained from the Climate Group at Oregon State University (http://www.prism.oregonstate.edu), GPCC data were obtained from Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) (https://www.dwd.de/EN/ourservices/gpcc/gpcc.html). UA-SWE product was accessed through Dr. Patrick Broxton of U. of Arizona, also available from the NSIDC: https://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0719/versions/1. Financial support was also made available from NASA GRACE and GRACE-FO (NNH15ZDA001N–GRACE) and NASA MEaSUREs (NNH17ZDA001N-MEASURES) awards.

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  1. Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona, 1133 E. James E Rogers Way, Harshbarger Rm. 226b, Tucson, AZ, 85721-0011, USA

    Milad Panahi & Ali Behrangi

  2. Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Ali Behrangi

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Panahi, M., Behrangi, A. Comparative Analysis of Snowfall Accumulation and Gauge Undercatch Correction Factors from Diverse Data Sets: In Situ, Satellite, and Reanalysis. Asia-Pacific J Atmos Sci 56, 615–628 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-019-00161-6

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