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Full catalog/SNEX_HRSI_SD_DEM_CO
SNEX_HRSI_SD_DEM_CO·v1·dataset

How deep the snow is in Colorado, over time (3 m satellite)

SnowEx Colorado 3M Snow Depth Time Series and DEMs from High-Resolution Satellite Image Pairs V001
land NASA NSIDC_CPRD Level Not provided GeoTIFF
In plain English

What it measures. Time series of snow depth maps for two areas of Colorado at about 3-meter detail, along with the snow-covered and snow-free elevation models used to derive them.

How it's made. Produced by comparing very-high-resolution stereo image pairs from the WorldView and Pléiades satellites (with airborne lidar) taken near peak snow each year from 2016 to 2022.

How & where you'd use it. Lets researchers measure mountain snowpack in fine detail and check satellite-derived snow depths against on-the-ground measurements from a NASA field campaign.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › TOPOGRAPHY › TERRAIN ELEVATION › DIGITAL ELEVATION/TERRAIN MODEL (DEM)CRYOSPHERE › SNOW/ICE › SNOW DEPTH

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2016-02-19 → 2022-03-02
  • Measured byAIRCRAFT (LIDAR) · Pleiades-1A (CAMERA) · Pleiades-1B (CAMERA) · WORLDVIEW-2 (CAMERA) · WORLDVIEW-3 (CAMERA)
  • Processing levelLevel Not provided
  • Spatial extent-108.38227, 38.78595, -107.74734, 39.21616
  • FormatsGeoTIFF
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

This data set contains a time series of snow depth maps and related intermediary snow-on and snow-off DEMs for Grand Mesa and the Banded Peak Ranch areas of Colorado derived from very-high-resolution (VHR) satellite stereo images and lidar point cloud data. Two of the snow depth maps coincide temporally with the 2017 NASA SnowEx Grand Mesa field campaign, providing a comparison between the satellite derived snow depth and in-situ snow depth measurements. The VHR stereo images were acquired each year between 2016 and 2022 during the approximate timing of peak snow depth by the Maxar WorldView-2, WorldView-3, and CNES/Airbus Pléiades-HR 1A and 1B satellites, while lidar data was sourced from the USGS 3D Elevation Program.

Get the data

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

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="SNEX_HRSI_SD_DEM_CO",
    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.