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Full catalog/ASO_50M_SD
ASO_50M_SD·v1·dataset

How deep the snow is, from aircraft laser (50 m)

ASO L4 Lidar Snow Depth 50m UTM Grid V001
cryosphere NASA NSIDC_CPRD Level 4 GeoTIFF
In plain English

What it measures. How deep the snow is on the ground, mapped at 50 m detail.

How it's made. Calculated from laser (lidar) surface-height measurements taken by low-flying aircraft during NASA's Airborne Snow Observatory survey flights.

How & where you'd use it. Measuring mountain snowpack to forecast spring meltwater and water supply, and to study snow across a region in fine detail.

What's measured

CRYOSPHERE › SNOW/ICE › SNOW DEPTH

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2013-04-03 → 2019-07-16
  • Measured byDHC-6 (Riegl LMS-Q1560) · King Air (Riegl LMS-Q1560)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-124.18472, 47.493, -123.12877, 48.09086
  • FormatsGeoTIFF
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Measure sea ice, snow cover and glaciers
  • Watch ice-sheet elevation change
  • Track freeze/thaw and permafrost
Official description

This data set contains 50 m gridded snow depths derived from airborne light detection and ranging, or lidar, measurements of surface elevations. The data were collected as part of the NASA/JPL Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) aircraft survey campaigns.

Get the data

aso_50m_sd_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ASO_50M_SD",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from NSIDC_CPRD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.