A new concept study for a terrestrial

snow mass mission at the Canadian Space Agency

and Environment Canada
Chris Derksen, Stephane Blair and Anne Walker
Environment Canada

Mlanie Lapointe, Yves Crevier

Canadian Space Agency

Outline
Background: needs and requirements
Science drivers: primary and secondary
Overview of the concept review
International context

Needs
Environment Canada has identified high resolution snow water eq

uivalent (SWE) as a priority observational gap which limits the dev

elopment of enhanced operational environmental monitoring, ser
vices, and prediction
While a radar-based mission holds potential, SWE retrieval algorith
ms and forward models require development and validation, and
robust first guess model derived information on SWE and snow mi
crostructure are required as retrieval inputs
The scope of the concept study is to review and confirm the main
operational requirements from users, investigate high level missio
n concepts, determine Canadian capabilities and technologies, an
d identify international partnership opportunities

Data Requirements
Primary objective is complete northern hemisphere coverage every 2 to 3
days, at frequencies sensitive to snow mass, in order to meet land surface
modeling requirements within the numerical weather prediction and
operational hydrological modeling communities.
Frequency selection to maximize sensitivity to SWE over the maximum
possible range combined with mitigation of grain size effects.
Primary product development would focus on terrestrial snow water
equivalent at moderate (~1000 metre) resolution.
Building on the heritage of previous missions (i.e. SASS, NSCAT, QuikSCAT)
advanced spaceborne radar measurements would also provide suitable
measurements to develop products related to:
sea ice (type, concentration, extent, motion, melt and freeze onset)
land ice (snow accumulation, melt onset, glacier and ice cap/shelf velocity)
coastal ocean surface winds
The mission concept will be driven by snow mass as the primary
requirement, recognizing the potential contribution from spaceborne
radar measurements, but is not starting from any pre-determined
system concept

Primary Science Driver

Snow plays a critical role in climatological, hydrological, and
ecological processes across a significant portion of the Northern
Hemisphere, represents an essential freshwater resource for human
use, and influences a number of hazards (i.e. spring flooding;
drought propagation).
How much snow is there? Where, in what ways, and why are
snowpacks changing?
Specific scientific objectives for moderate resolution (~1
km) terrestrial snow products:
1. Quantify the spatially and temporally dynamic amount of
freshwater stored in seasonal snow (monitoring and process
studies)
2. Provide observational support for high resolution prediction (via
data assimilation) of the land surface for NWP and hydrological
modeling (predictions)
3. Diagnose systematic snow mass biases in the land modules of
current Earth System Models (projections)

Specific scientific objectives for moderate resolution (~1 km)

terrestrial snow products:
1. Quantify the spatially and temporally dynamic amount of freshwater stored
in seasonal snow (monitoring and process studies)

Accumulated annual snowfall divided by

annual runoff over global land regions
Barnett et al., Nature, 2005

Observed historical spring SWE and

discharge for the Colorado River watershed,
and projected streamflow changes from a
large
ensemble
of CanESM2 simulations
Fyfe et
al., In
prep.

Snow cover provides a vital freshwater resource over a large fraction of the
northern hemisphere
This resource is under stress from warming temperatures and shifts in
precipitation regimes

Specific scientific objectives for moderate resolution (~1 km) terrestrial

snow products:
2. Provide observational support for high resolution prediction (via data
assimilation) of the land surface for NWP and hydrological modeling
(predictions)

Error metrics for snow assimilation

experiments using the coarse
resolution (25 km) GlobSnow product
over western Canada

Temperature and SWE biases in the Canadian

Seasonal to Interannual Prediction System
(CanSIPS)

Operational NWP requirements: daily coverage, moderate resolution (~1

km), well characterized retrieval uncertainty
Operational seasonal prediction requirements: relaxed spatial and
temporal resolution requirements

Specific scientific objectives for moderate resolution (~1 km) terrestria

snow products:
3. Diagnose systematic snow mass biases in the land modules of current Earth
System Models (projections)

June NH snow cover extent from

observational snow analyses and
CMIPS models (historical + rcp8.5
scenario)
Derksen and Brown,
GRL, 2012

MarchApril NH snow cover extent for

historical CMIP5 simulations (colored
crosses) and observations (black
triangles)
Brutel-Vuilmet et al.,
Cryos., 2012

CMIP5 models do not capture the significant reductions in spring snow cover
extent observed during the satellite era
Enhanced observations required in support of improvements to model physics
and diagnostics

Current Capabilities

Current satellite derived datasets are unable to estimate snow water

equivalent (SWE) at the spatial resolution necessary to meet monitoring and
modeling requirements.
There is a disconnect between current satellite capabilities (25 km
resolution) and operational land surface system requirements (1 km
resolution).
The climatologies for existing gridded SWE products vary by ~ 50% of peak
SWE

Climatological NH
snow mass, 1981Mudryk et 2010
al., J. period
Clim, in press

Spread among NH snow

mass climatologies by
region

Detrended mean correlation, pairs

of daily (NDJFMA) SWE time series
(1981-2010)

Secondary Science Drivers

The failure of QuikScat in 2011 represents an observational gap
for many cryosphere parameters, including sea ice type and
extent, snow accumulation on ice sheets, and melt onset and
duration over land, sea ice, and permanent ice.
These observations are required for ongoing determination
of variability and change in the cryosphere, and the
understanding of the role of the cryosphere in both forcing
and responding to the global climate system.
Current satellite scatterometer missions, including ASCAT and
Rapidscat, provide ocean vector wind measurements at 20 to 30
km spatial resolution, which is insufficient for coastal applications.
Using Doppler beam sharpening, 1 to 3 km resolution ocean
vector wind retrievals are possible which would address
current gaps in monitoring and forecasting near-shore
regions. A high resolution capability will also allow the
identification and tracking of the eye and motion of cyclones.

Secondary Science Drivers:

Sea ice type and extent
2003

2006

2009

QuikSCAT VV (0 in dB) showing trend in decreasing MY

ice
Swan and Long, 2012

QuikSCAT Arctic Ocean multiyear ice (MYI)

Polyakov et al., 2012 coverage

Secondary Science Drivers:

Greenland melt and snow accumulation

Snow accumulation: in situ measurements and

QuikSCAT retrievals
Nghiem et al., 2005

Blended MODIS and QuikSCAT

surface melt information
Hall et al., 2010

Secondary Science Drivers:

Pan-Arctic melt onset

QuikSCAT melt and freeze onset for

2006
Mortin et al., 2012

QuikSCAT mean melt onset date (day of year),

Wang et al., 2011 2000-2009

Example Mission Concept Trade Offs

Concept 2

Sidelooking ScanSAR:
Single look high res (~50m)
100km swath
Cryosphere coverage in 15 days

Rotating SAR:
Single look res (~250m-5
700km swath for high res
Cryosphere coverage in 2

Proposed Activities
Review mission objectives and product definitions
Consult partners to identify science readiness and op
erational objectives

Analysis of experimental datasets in support of algorit

hm/product development
Modeling studies in support of algorithm/product dev
elopment

Payload analysis and trade-off

Mission concept design
Mission development plan
Analysis of alternate options

International liaison

Complementary ESA Activities

Scientific evaluation of mission concepts to monitor snow mass
and other cryospheric parameters
ITT on ESA emits
SnowSAR campaign data analysis study (SCADAS)
ITT on ESA emits. Release once all campaign data available.
Microstructural origin of electromagnetic signatures in
microwave remote sensing of snow
First progress meeting held
SnowLAB campaign, Swiss Alps
Start this winter and extend 3 years
Snow Product Inter-comparison (SnowPEx)
Second workshop in August 2015

Complementary NASA Activities

Ongoing NASA THP projects: snow radar interactions in
tundra environments (PI: Dr. Matthew Sturm, University of
Alaska Fairbanks) and new approaches to backscatter
modeling of snow (PI: Dr. Leung Tsang, University of Michigan)
Snow Remote Sensing Working Group (3 meetings/workshops
since 2013 plus field, modeling, and remote sensing schools)
Wideband Instrument for Snow Measurements (WISM; NASA
Instrument Incubator) Initial test flights in February 2015
SnowEx

Science Steering Committee

Chris Derksen/Stephane Belair co-chairs (Environment Canada)
Yves Crevier/Melanie Lapointe (CSA)
Claude Duguay freshwater ice; CoReH20 MAG (U. Waterloo)
Christian Haas sea ice (York University)
Stephen Howell
sea ice (Environment Canada)
Alex Langlois terrestrial snow (U. Sherbrooke)
Philip Marsh
terrestrial snow (Wilfrid Laurier U)
Martin Sharp
land ice (U. Alberta)
Donald Cline
terrestrial snow (NOAA)
Simon Yueh
ocean vector winds (NASA-JPL)
Jouni Pulliainen terrestrial snow; CoReH20 MAG (FMI)

Summary
A snow mass mission concept study is being prepared, to address a

fundamental observational gap which limits the development of en

hanced operational environmental monitoring, services, and predic
tion at Environment Canada
The mission is driven by snow mass as the primary requirement an
d recognizes the potential contribution from spaceborne radar mea
surements, but is not starting from any pre-determined technologi
cal concept
Studies have not yet shown the comprehensive validation of radar
derived SWE retrievals, nor the successful application of these retri
evals to modeling (hydrology; NWP; climate) applications
Secondary measurement objectives have been defined but do not
drive the payload analysis
Identifying international partnership opportunities will be an impor
tant component of the study