Dear all,
I am having some issues with ERA5 snowfall data set. The units are m of water equivalent, which is the same to say is 1000 kg/m2.
I need snowfall in m. I know somewhere I need to multiply/divide by a snowfall density or something. I tried to use snow density but values are very poor when compared to obs, which made me think I should use the constant for fresh snow density which is 100. Comparisons were slightly better, but still way off.
Any ideas/suggestions are greatly appreciated
Many Thanks
Joana
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2 Comments
Patricia de Rosnay
To convert snow depth in m of water equivalent to actual snow depth you need to do
actual_snow_depth_in_m = RW*SD/RSN
where:
SD= snow depth in m of water equivalent (parameter 141.128)
RW, density of water, = 1000 kg/m3
RSN = density of snow in kg/m3 (parameter 33.128)
For snowfall (which is accumulated during the forecast period), you would need to have the snowfall density to do the conversion. I am not sure if this information is available.
If not you can retrieve accumulated snow fall during the forecast by using snow depth differences (between time steps).
Joana Medeiros
Thank you
J