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Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States

[1] Accurate estimation of the characteristics of the winter snowpack is crucial for prediction of available water supply, flooding, and climate feedbacks. Remote sensing of snow has been most successful for quantifying the spatial extent of the snowpack, although satellite estimation of snow water...

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Autores principales: Ouellette, Karli J, de Linage, Caroline, Famiglietti, James S
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3813979/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24223442
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wrcr.20173
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author Ouellette, Karli J
de Linage, Caroline
Famiglietti, James S
author_facet Ouellette, Karli J
de Linage, Caroline
Famiglietti, James S
author_sort Ouellette, Karli J
collection PubMed
description [1] Accurate estimation of the characteristics of the winter snowpack is crucial for prediction of available water supply, flooding, and climate feedbacks. Remote sensing of snow has been most successful for quantifying the spatial extent of the snowpack, although satellite estimation of snow water equivalent (SWE), fractional snow covered area, and snow depth is improving. Here we show that GPS observations of vertical land surface loading reveal seasonal responses of the land surface to the total weight of snow, providing information about the stored SWE. We demonstrate that the seasonal signal in Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center (SOPAC) GPS vertical land surface position time series at six locations in the western United States is driven by elastic loading of the crust by the snowpack. GPS observations of land surface deformation are then used to predict the water load as a function of time at each location of interest and compared for validation to nearby Snowpack Telemetry observations of SWE. Estimates of soil moisture are included in the analysis and result in considerable improvement in the prediction of SWE. Citation: Ouellette, K. J., C. de Linage, and J. S. Famiglietti (2013), Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States, Water Resour. Res., 49, 2508–2518, doi:10.1002/wrcr.20173.
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spelling pubmed-38139792013-11-06 Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States Ouellette, Karli J de Linage, Caroline Famiglietti, James S Water Resour Res Regular Articles [1] Accurate estimation of the characteristics of the winter snowpack is crucial for prediction of available water supply, flooding, and climate feedbacks. Remote sensing of snow has been most successful for quantifying the spatial extent of the snowpack, although satellite estimation of snow water equivalent (SWE), fractional snow covered area, and snow depth is improving. Here we show that GPS observations of vertical land surface loading reveal seasonal responses of the land surface to the total weight of snow, providing information about the stored SWE. We demonstrate that the seasonal signal in Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center (SOPAC) GPS vertical land surface position time series at six locations in the western United States is driven by elastic loading of the crust by the snowpack. GPS observations of land surface deformation are then used to predict the water load as a function of time at each location of interest and compared for validation to nearby Snowpack Telemetry observations of SWE. Estimates of soil moisture are included in the analysis and result in considerable improvement in the prediction of SWE. Citation: Ouellette, K. J., C. de Linage, and J. S. Famiglietti (2013), Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States, Water Resour. Res., 49, 2508–2518, doi:10.1002/wrcr.20173. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013-05 2013-05-28 /pmc/articles/PMC3813979/ /pubmed/24223442 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wrcr.20173 Text en ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation.
spellingShingle Regular Articles
Ouellette, Karli J
de Linage, Caroline
Famiglietti, James S
Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States
title Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States
title_full Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States
title_fullStr Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States
title_full_unstemmed Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States
title_short Estimating snow water equivalent from GPS vertical site-position observations in the western United States
title_sort estimating snow water equivalent from gps vertical site-position observations in the western united states
topic Regular Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3813979/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24223442
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wrcr.20173
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