Central Sierra Snow Laboratory Data used in Utah Energy Balance Snowmelt Model

This resource contains data from the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory (CSSL) used in the development of the Utah Energy Balance (UEB) Snowmelt model. This data was provided by Bruce McGurk to David Tarboton around 1991. The CSSL is located 1 km east of Soda Springs, California, and measures and archives comprehensive data relevant to snow. It is at latitude 39°19'N and at elevation 2100 m. The meteorological data is reported each hour and consists of temperature, radiation, humidity, precipitation, and wind measurements at two levels in a 40 x 50 m clearing and in a mixed conifer fir forest with 95% forest cover. Only data from the clearing was used in UEB development. Snow depths and water equivalent are measured daily (except on weekends) and eight lysimeters record melt outflow each hour. We used the temperature, precipitation, radiation (incoming solar and net), humidity and wind measurements to drive UEB and compared model output to measurements of snow water
equivalence, melt outflow and snow surface temperature (infrared sensor).

This work is described in

Tarboton, D. G. and C. H. Luce, (1996), \"Utah Energy Balance Snow Accumulation and Melt Model (UEB),\" Computer model technical description and users guide, Utah Water Research Laboratory and USDA Forest Service Intermountain Research Station, Logan, Utah, 64 p., https://hydrology.usu.edu/dtarb/snow/snowrep.pdf.

Recent information on CSSL is at https://cssl.berkeley.edu/