Terrestrial Snow Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) in the Context of a Snow Mass Mission Concept Study

Due to its geographical location, Canada is particularly affected by snow processes and their impact on the atmosphere and the hydrosphere. Yet, snow mass observations that are on-going, global, frequent and at adequate spatial resolution for assimilation within operational prediction systems at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) are presently not available. Thus, ECCC partnered up with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and other collaborators to initiate a radar-focused snow mission concept study to define space-borne technological solutions to this observational gap. In this context, an Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) is performed to determine the impact of sensor configuration (i.e. resolution, revisit time) and SWE algorithm performance on snow analyses from the Canadian Land Data Assimilation System (CaLDAS). Results from this study will help define the optimal configuration of satellite derived snow measurements in terms of quality and feasibility by giving an estimation of the potential value of proposed new satellite observation systems.