ABoVE: Passive Microwave-derived Annual Snow Melt Duration Date Maps, 1988-2018

This dataset provides the annual period of snowpack melting (i.e., snow melt duration, SMD) across northwest Canada; Alaska, U.S.; and parts of far eastern Russia at 6.25 km resolution for the period 1988-2018. SMD is the number of days between the main melt onset date (MMOD) and the last day of seasonal snow cover when the melting of snow is complete. These dates were derived from the Making Earth Science Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Calibrated Enhanced-Resolution Passive Microwave (PMW) EASE-Grid Brightness Temperature (Tb) Earth System Data Record (ESDR). This dataset documents variability in SMD across space and the 31-year temporal period. The data from 1988-2016 included a coastal mask removing coastal pixels due to potential water contamination from coarse brightness temperature observations (Dersken et al., 2012). There is not a coastal mask for the 2017-2018 data. The full data are included, and data users should be aware that coastal values can be adversely affected by adjacent water bodies.