Approaching 80 years of snow water equivalent information by merging different data streams

Merging multiple data streams together can improve the overall length of record and achieve the number of observations required for robust statistical analysis. We merge complementary information from different data streams with a regression-based approach to estimate the 1 April snow water equivalent (SWE) volume over Sierra Nevada, USA. We more than double the length of available data-driven SWE volume records by leveraging in-situ snow depth observations from longer-length snow course records and SWE volumes from a shorter-length snow reanalysis. With the resulting data-driven merged time series (1940–2018), we conduct frequency analysis to estimate return periods and associated uncertainty, which can inform decisions about the water supply, drought response, and flood control. We show that the shorter (~30-year) reanalysis results in an underestimation of the 100-year return period by ~25 years (relative to the ~80-year merged dataset). Drought and flood risk and water resources planning can be substantially affected if return periods of SWE, which are closely related to potential flooding in spring and water availability in summer, are misrepresented.