Identification

Title

Global Seasonal Snow Classification System

Alternative title(s)

106.ARCSS045

Abstract

The data file defines a global seasonal snow classification system. Based on the physical properties of the snow (depth, density, thermal conductivity, number of layers, degree of wetting, etc.), the world's seasonal snow covers were divided into six classes, plus classes for water and ice fields. Each class was defined by its physical properties, then empirically related to climate using three variables (precipitation, wind, and air temperature). A vegetation proxy was used for wind data: tall vegetation equals low wind, short vegetation equals high wind. The snow classification data are formatted into an array of integers, each value representing a 0.5-degree latitude by 0.5-degree longitude cell. The data set was developed and tested for the Northern Hemisphere. Results for the Southern Hemisphere are untested and have not been evaluated. The Southern Hemisphere suffers from a reduced density of meteorological data which may well have influenced the quality of the snow classification in that area. Also note that much of Antarctica is inappropriately defined as water (the vegetation data set did not extend that far south). A 0.5- x 0.5-degree land-sea mask could be used to set the Antarctica region to the ice classification if this region is of interest. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has created a land/ocean mask from the original (updated) Global Ecosystem map (see Related links) used in the derivation of the snow classification. The mask may be used to set the land mass of Antarctica to ice, as described above, altering the data set as submitted.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

https://data.eol.ucar.edu//dataset/106.ARCSS045

protocol: https

name: Global Seasonal Snow Classification System homepage

description: Dataset homepage

Unique resource identifier

code

106.ARCSS045

codeSpace

Dataset language

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

dataset

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2014-10-16

Keyword set

keyword value

Models/Analyses

Keyword set

keyword value

Models/Analyses

Snow and Land Ice

Arctic

Keyword set

keyword value

EARTH SCIENCE > TERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE > SNOW/ICE > SNOW COVER

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2018-02-27

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-180.00000

East bounding longitude

180.00000

North bounding latitude

90.00000

South bounding latitude

-90.00000

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

1993-07-19T00:00:00Z

End position

1993-08-16T23:59:59Z

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2009-04-29T15:01:34Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

none

Limitations on public access

none

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

EOL Data Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Earth Observing Laboratory

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

datahelp@eol.ucar.edu

web address

https://data.eol.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Responsible party

organisation name

US Army

full postal address

Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory PO Box 35170

Ft Wainwright

99703-0170

telephone number

(970) 353-5183

email address

msturm@crrel.usace.army.mil

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

EOL Data Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Earth Observing Laboratory

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

datahelp@eol.ucar.edu

web address

https://data.eol.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2024-02-07T22:48:26Z

Metadata language