Sponsor
This research was supported by the U.S. Geological Survey Natinal Land Imaging Program's Sustainable Land Imaging Phase 2 Imaging Spectroscopy Research and the Development project (project no. GX23ED00TYG), and through the Earth Space Technology Services LLC agreement under the Technical Support Services Contract to the USGS.
Published In
Cold Regions Science and Technology
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2026
Subjects
SpectroscopyImaging -- spectroscopy, Field spectrometer, Remote sensing -- Seasonal snow properties, Intercomparison
Abstract
Seasonal snow is an integral component of global hydrological systems, global energy budget and Earth's climate. As an important part of many Earth systems, seasonal snow is also an essential source of water for many human populations and ecosystems around the world. As such, the measurement of seasonal snow and characterization of uncertainty in those measurements is crucial. To elucidate potential uncertainty attributable to commonly used field spectrometers (and to a lesser extent imaging spectrometers) and associated reference panels, this work presents results from an intercalibration experiment conducted synchronously with the NASA 2023 Snow Experiment (SnowEx) Albedo campaign near Fairbanks, Alaska USA. Three sets of experiments were carried out under controlled laboratory conditions to characterize the radiometric and spectral wavelength consistency of the instruments as well as the white reference panels used to calculate reflectance from field measurements. Although there was generally good agreement between the instruments, panels, and the references, there were also some notable differences. One instrument showed an average − 74 % change from the reference for radiance, and multiple instruments exceeded the suggested 0.5 nm threshold for spectral wavelength scale. The Discussion section highlights how some of these findings and their implications could improve future field campaigns and general use/maintenance of these high-precision scientific instruments.
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104800
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44468
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation Details
Roberts-Pierel, B. M., Crawford, C. J., Brown, S. W., Kokaly, R. F., Gleason, K. E., Nolin, A. W., Bair, E. H., Wilder, B. A., Surunis, A. J., Skiles, S. M. K., Meyer, J., Fitts, A. E., Johnston, J. M., Hunsaker, A. G., Stuefer, M., & Løke, T. (2026). A laboratory-based spectrometer intercomparison for the measurement of snow spectra. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 245, 104800.