Snow Pack Analyzer

The snow pack analyzer is situated on a well-drained cassiope heath in the heart of the main research area in the Zackenberg valley. The snow pack analyzer was installed in August 2013. The station measures the water content, the ice content and the density of the snow in 10, 30 and 50 cm above the ground, when snow is present, using 60 mm wide capacitance ribbons.
Unfortunately, due to technical problems, the snow depth didn't work properly for the first years, therefore snow depth measurements from the Climate station (situated approximately 200 meters south of the SPA), has been included in the file, see remarks. For periods where snow depth measurements exists from both stations they correspond very well. Data from the three capacitance ribbons is only published for periods where the individual ribbon was snow covered.
Adjacent to the capacitance ribbons a SSG-Snow scale, covering an area of 6.72 m2, has been installed. The scale measures the snow water equivalent over this area. Negative measures from the scale have been set to zero. Missing data is due to various technical problems.
From 2013-2017 ice content, water content and density measurements from the different horizontal bands have been post corrected with 60 %, as the originally supplied bands were too thin, resulting in erroneous measurements.