IT-SNOW: a snow reanalysis for Italy blending modeling, in-situ data, and satellite observations

IT-SNOW is a serially complete and multi-year snow reanalysis for Italy. The dataset includes daily maps of Snow Water Equivalent (SWE), snow depth (HS), bulk-snow density (RhoS), and liquid water content (Theta_W). 

Data are organized in monthly netCDF files, each providing time and lat/lon information for georeference. Units are as follows: HS is in cm, SWE is in mm w.e., RhoS is in kg/m3, and Theta_W is in %. Note that maps are instantaneous snapshots at 11AM UTC, here assumed as representative values for the day. 

As the output of an operational chain employed in real-world civil-protection applications (S3M Italy), IT-SNOW ingests input data from thousands of automatic weather stations, snow-covered-area maps from Sentinel 2, MODIS, and H-SAF products, and maps of snow depth from the spazialization of 350+ on-the-ground snow-depth sensors. Additional information are available in the following paper submitted to Earth System Science Data: 

"IT-SNOW: a snow reanalysis for Italy blending modeling, in-situ data, and satellite observations (2009-2021)", Francesco Avanzi et al., 2022. 

The initial time span of data is September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2021, with future updates envisaged on an annual basis (see updates below).

UPDATES

• December 20, 2022: released v2 with the complete 2022 water year (September 2021 - August 2022).

LICENSE INFORMATION

IT-SNOW is distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. you are free to: 

1. Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format; 
2. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material;

under the following terms: 

a. Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
b. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

DATA ARE PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THESE DATA, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

For details about the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.en