Reconstructed North American Snow Extent, 1900-1993

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Entry ID

G02130

Summary

This data set contains reconstructed monthly North American snow extent values for November through March, 1900-1993. Investigators used a combination of satellite and station observations and based the reconstruction on linear regressions between the two types of observations. The data also includes standard errors of estimates as well as the observed values upon which the regressions were based.

Station-based snow observations are available for dates since the early twentieth century but lack comprehensive spatial coverage. A remotely sensed product based on visible-band imagery provides more complete spatial coverage but has only been available since the early 1970s. Since the reconstructed values are based on regression, variability is underestimated and therefore the magnitude of some extreme values is underestimated.

Data are available via FTP.

Data Set Citation

Dataset Creator: Allan Frei and David A. Robinson
Dataset Title: Reconstructed North American Snow Extent, 1900-1993
Dataset Release Date: 2002-01-01
Dataset Release Place: Boulder, CO
Dataset Publisher: National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
Online Resource: http://nsidc.org/data/G02130.html

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1900-12-01
Stop Date: 1993-03-31

Location Keywords

• Continent North America

Science Keywords

• Cryosphere Snow/Ice Snow Cover Snow Extent
• Terrestrial Hydrosphere Snow/Ice Snow Cover Snow Extent

Ancillary Keywords

• HDCD
• Historical Daily Climate Dataset
• linear regression analysis
• North American snow extent
• reconstructed
• Snow
• Snow Extent

ISO Topic Category (View Definitions)

• Climatology/Meteorology/Atmosphere

Platform

• GROUND STATIONS
• SATELLITES

Instrument

• AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
• VHRR Very High Resolution Radiometer

Quality

Since the method is based on regression, variability is underestimated and therefore the magnitude of some extreme values is underestimated. However, in no case during the satellite era, when data collected both by satellite and at stations were available, was the sign of the reconstructed deviation from the mean different than observed.

Data Set Progress

COMPLETE

Data Center

National Snow and Ice Data Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org
Data Set ID: G02130

Data Center Personnel

Name: NSIDC User Services
Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199
Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

NSIDC National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org/noaa/
Data Set ID: G02130

Data Center Personnel

Name: NSIDC NOAA User Services
Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199
Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

Distribution

Distribution Media: FTP
Distribution Size: 8 KB
Distribution Format: ASCII text file

Personnel

Allan Frei
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: 212-772-5322
Fax: 212-772-5268
Email: afrei@geo.hunter.cuny.edu
Contact Address:
Department of Geography
Hunter College
City University of New York
Rm 1006 North Building
695 Park Avenue
City: New York
Province or State: NY
Postal Code: 10021

David A. Robinson
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: 732-445-4741
Fax: 732-445-0006
Email: drobins@rci.rutgers.edu
Contact Address:
Department of Geography
New Jersey State Climatologist
Rutgers University
54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue
City: Piscataway
Province or State: NJ
Postal Code: 08854-8054

NSIDC USER SERVICES
Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT
Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199
Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

Related URL

http://nsidc.org/data/G02130.html
This site provides access to data and documentation.

Reference

Frei, A. and D. A. Robinson. 1999. Northern Hemisphere snow extent: regional variability 1972-1994. International Journal of Climatology 19: 1535-1560. Frei, A., D. A. Robinson and M. G. Hughes. 1999. North American snow extent: 1900-1994. International Journal of Climatology 19: 1517-1534.

Robinson, D. A. 1993. Historical daily climatic data for the United States. Proceedings of the Eighth Conference on Applied Climatology. Anaheim, CA. American Meteorological Society: 264-269.

Robinson, D. A., K. F. Dewey and R. R. J. Heim. 1993. Global snow cover monitoring: an update. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 74(9): 1689-1696.

Robinson, D. A. and A. Frei 1999. Seasonal variability of Northern Hemisphere snow extent using visible satellite data. Professional Geographer. 52(2): 307-315.

Metadata Name and Version

Metadata Name: CEOS IDN DIF
Metadata Version: 9.7

Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2002-10-09

DIF Text-Only

Directory Interchange Format (DIF) in plain text

DIF XML

Directory Interchange Format (DIF) in Extensible Markup Language (XML)

FGDC HTML

U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM)