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Principal Investigator (PI): David Robinson, Rutgers University

The proposed project intends to:

  1. assess compliance of current Northern Hemisphere (NH) terrestrial, sea ice and Greenland ice sheet snow data records with National Research Council Climate Data Record characteristics;
  2. blend NH snow data products into CDRs; and
  3. provide state-of-the-art NH snow CDRs in multiple formats and on multiple time steps for the research community, decision-makers, and stakeholders.

To accomplish our project objectives, we propose the following:

  1. for each current NH snow data record, we plan to assess how many of the NRC CDR characteristics the data record meets;
  2. the current data records will be blended using statistical measures to develop enhanced, CDR-compliant records of NH snow conditions;
  3. the CDRs and associated products will then be provided via an existing website (http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/) for access by the community. The CDRs will also be distributed to relevant national data centers.

The key elements of this project include our previous experience in working with the relevant data sets; our proven success in creating data records and transitioning them to data centers; and our understanding of the NRC report on CDRs. This project will provide important information for answering questions related to the following NASA Earth science questions:

  1. How is the global Earth system changing?
  2. What are the primary causes of the earth system variability?
  3. How does the Earth system respond to natural and human-induced changes?
  4. What are the consequences of change in the Earth system for human civilization?
  5. How well can we predict future changes in the Earth system?

Visit the Snow and Ice Climate Data

Distributed by NASA's National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC)