Multi-sensor analysis of monthly gridded snow precipitation on alpine glaciers

Abstract

Accurate and reliable solid precipitation estimates for high mountain regions are crucial for many research applications. Yet, measuring snowfall at high elevation remains a major challenge. In consequence, observational coverage is typically sparse, and the validation of spatially distributed precipitation products is complicated. This study presents a novel approach using reliable daily snow water equivalent (SWE) estimates by a cosmic ray sensor on two Swiss glacier sites to assess the performance of various gridded precipitation products. The ground observations are available during two and four winter seasons. The performance of three readily-available precipitation data products based on different data sources (gauge-based, remotely-sensed, and re-analysed) is assessed in terms of their accuracy compared to the ground reference. Furthermore, we include a data set, which corresponds to the remotely-sensed product with a local adjustment to independent SWE measurements. We find a large bias of all precipitation products at a monthly and seasonal resolution, which also shows a seasonal trend. Moreover, the performance of the precipitation products largely depends on in situ wind direction during snowfall events. The varying performance of the three precipitation products can be partly explained with their compilation background and underlying data basis.