2003 Snow Survey for Green Lakes Valley, Niwot Ridge LTER, Colorado

Yearly snow surveys were conducted in the Green Lakes Valley in the City of
Boulder Watershed at the estimated peak of snowpack in late spring. Over a period of
several days, surveying teams (1 to several people) traversed valley slopes
measuring snow depth with avalanche probes. Locations of each depth measurement were
recorded as waypoints in Garmin hand-held GPS units (eTrex Legend and eTrex Legend H
models). Snow depths were recorded on standardized field sheets along with dates,
recorder names, waypoint numbers, and comments. GPS locations were downloaded as
text files from Garmin units using Topo! software, specifying NAD83 for surveys
conducted after 2009. Download files contained waypoint number, latitude, longitude,
date, and elevation. Each file was imported into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and
snow depths corresponding to waypoints were entered manually from field sheets.
Shapefiles were constructed in ArcInfo/ArcGIS from dbf files generated either
directly from Excel spreadsheets (before 2008) or after importing into Microsoft
Access and then exporting as dbfs. All shapefiles are provided in a UTM zone 13
projection and NAD83 horizontal datum. NOTE: This EML metadata file does not contain
important geospatial data processing information. Before using any NWT LTER
geospatial data read the arcgis metadata XML file in either ISO or FGDC compliant
format, using ArcGIS software (ArcCatalog > description), or by viewing the .xml
file provided with the geospatial dataset.