SnowEx23 Laser Snow Microstructure Specific Surface Area Snow-off Data, Version 1

This data set reports vertical profiles of snow reflectance and specific surface area (SSA) from two study sites in Alaska, USA collected as part of the NASA SnowEx 2023 field campaign. The study sites include a boreal forest environment in the Fairbanks region of central Alaska (the Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest, the Caribou Poker Creek watershed and Farmers Loop/Creamer’s Field), and a coastal tundra environment in the North Slope region of northern Alaska (the Arctic coastal plain and Upper Kuparuk Toolik). Reflectance was measured in situ using an A2 Photonic Sensor IceCube (1310 nm). Measured reflectance values were converted to SSA during data processing following the methods of Gallet et al., (2009). Snow-on SSA data from these same study sites were collected in March 2023 and are available as SnowEx23 Laser Snow Microstructure Specific Surface Area Data, Version 1.