BackForward Variable: Snow water equivalent

Definition
Full name Snow water equivalent
Definition Vertical depth of the water that would be obtained by melting a snow layer. Linked to snow depth through the density of the snow layer.
Measuring Units mm Uncertainty Units mm
Horizontal Res Units km Vertical Res Units
Stability Units mm (Stability /decade)

 

Comment:
Last modified: 2025-08-11
Applied in OSCAR/Space Gap Analysis: Yes
Classification
  • Domain: Terrestrial
    • Sub-domain: Land surface
      • Variable: Snow water equivalent
        • Measured in Layers:
          • Land surface

Requirements defined for Snow water equivalent  (8)

This tables shows all related requirements. For more operations/filtering, please consult the full list of Requirements
Note: In reading the values, goal is marked blue, breakthrough green, threshold orange
Application-dependent Technical Priority (ATP) Magenta and Relative priority of the attributes Red

Id Variable Layer App Area ATP Uncertainty Layer/s Quality Coverage Quality Stability / decade Hor Res Ver Res Obs Cyc Timeliness Coverage Conf Level Val Date Source General Comment Application Area Comment Horizontal Coverage Comment Observation Comment Performance Comment
13 Snow water equivalent Land surface CLIC (deprecated) 5 mm
8 mm
20 mm 		10 km
13.6 km
25 km 		24 h
41 h
5 d 		7 d
11 d
30 d 		Global land tentative 1998-10-29 WCRP
48 Snow water equivalent Land surface 2.9 Agricultural Meteorology 5 mm
23.2 mm
500 mm 		30 km
2.2 km
10 km 		7 d
11 d
30 d 		24 h
46 h
7 d 		Global land reasonable 2003-10-20 ET ODRRGOS Evaluation of soil water storage in spring
109 Snow water equivalent Land surface Climate-AOPC (deprecated) 5 mm
6.5 mm
10 mm 		100 km
200 km
500 km 		24 h
2 d
7 d 		6 h
12 h
24 h 		Global land firm 2007-07-19 AOPC
221 Snow water equivalent Land surface GEWEX (deprecated) 5 mm
10 mm
20 mm 		15 km
50 km
250 km 		12 h
24 h
7 d 		30 d
45 d
90 d 		Global land tentative 1998-10-29 WCRP
300 Snow water equivalent Land surface 2.1 Global Numerical Weather Prediction and Real-time Monitoring 2 mm
10 mm
20 mm 		5 km
15 km
100 km 		3 h
24 h
5 d 		3 h
24 h
5 d 		Global land reasonable 2009-02-10 John Eyre
376 Snow water equivalent Land surface 2.2 High-Resolution Numerical Weather Prediction 5 mm
8 mm
20 mm 		0.5 km
2 km
20 km 		60 min
3 h
6 h 		60 min
3 h
24 h 		Global land tentative 2010-02-01 JF Mahfouf
758 Snow water equivalent 2.4 Sub-Seasonal to Longer Predictions 5 mm
10 mm
20 mm 		50 km
100 km
500 km 		24 h
2 d
7 d 		24 h
2 d
7 d 		Global land tentative 2009-01-19 Laura Ferranti
825 Snow water equivalent Land surface 2.5 Atmospheric Climate Monitoring 0.5 10 mm 10 mm 1 km 24 h Global reasonable 2025-08-08 GCOS-200: The Global Observing System for Climate: Implementation Needs (Published 2016) Requirements in the GCOS-200 IP, Annex A, are only specified at the goal level. 8 Aug 2025: PoC of AA 4.2 requested to archive these requirements under 2.5, because this GCOSTOPC variable will be moved under AA .4.2. The change was supported by PoC and the owner of AA 2.5.