Citation:

PANGAEA.997478 (dataset in review)

Name: Twelve years of snow and soil thermal conductivity (2013-2025) from a High-Arctic tundra permafrost site at Bylot Island, Canada
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: Bylot Island; High-Arctic prostrate tundra; meteorological data; snow; Soil

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Abstract:

We present a detailed twelve-year dataset for an ice-wedge polygonal site in the Canadian High-Arctic, on Bylot Island at 73.15°N, 80°W which can be used to drive and test snow and land surface models. The site has prostrate vegetation and features thick continuous permafrost. Data are from 11 July 2013 to 1 August 2025. Continuous gap-free, quality-checked data with hourly measurements are presented. We provide driving data for energy budget calculations: air temperature at 2.3 m height, relative and specific humidity at 2.3 m height, atmospheric pressure, wind speed at 2.3 m height, shortwave downwelling radiation, longwave downwelling radiation, and precipitation as rain and snow. Model validation data are shortwave upwelling radiation, shortwave albedo, long-wave upwelling radiation, surface temperature, snow height, snow temperature at five heights, ground temperature and ground volume liquid water fraction at five depths. Measurements of snow thermal conductivity at three heights and ground thermal conductivity at three depths are provided every other day. Data on snow physical measurements from field campaigns in mid-May for nine of the twelve years are presented. Measurements provided are vertical profiles of snow density, snow specific surface area and snow thermal conductivity. Date/time used are UTC. Data are provided as TAB and netCDF.

This data set comprises measurements of snow thermal conductivity at 7 cm height for the first year and at 2, 12 and 22 cm heights for subsequent years. Soil thermal conductivity at 10 cm depth for all years, at 15 cm depth for the last 3 years, and at 5 cm depth for the last 2 years. Measurements are performed every other day at 5:00 local time, 10:00 UTC. No quality flags are provided since all data were obtained in a similar manner. Invalid data or data not meeting quality requirements have been deleted. Daily average snow height at the SR50 gauge, about 8 m away, is provided for convenience.

Keyword(s):

Bylot Island; High-Arctic prostrate tundra; meteorological data; snow; Soil

Related to:

Domine, Florent; Lalande, Mickaël; Tremblay, Étienne; Sarrazin, Denis; Poirier, Mathilde; Thiboult, Antoine; Kinnard, Christophe (in prep.): Twelve years of meteorological, snow and soil data (2013-2025) from a High-Arctic tundra permafrost site at Bylot Island, Canada, for running and testing snow and land-surface models. Earth System Science Data Discussions

Other version:

Upwelling SW and LW radiation, snow depth, albedo, surface temperature, soil temperature and volume liquid water content, snow temperature, snow and soil thermal conductivity in netCDF format [dataset]. obs_insitu_byl_2013_2025_v0.8.3_f32.nc

Funding:

BNP Paribas Foundation (France), grant/award no. APT: Acceleration of Permafrost Thaw

Institut Polaire Français Paul Émile Victor (IPEV), grant/award no. 1042 : ESCAPE-Arctic 3

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), grant/award no. NewClimateFeedbacks: New climate feedbacks in the Arctic

Coverage:

Latitude: 73.150380 * Longitude: -80.004420

Date/Time Start: 2013-07-12T10:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2025-08-01T10:00:00

Minimum Elevation: 20.0 m * Maximum Elevation: 20.0 m

Event(s):

Bylot_Island_monitoring * Latitude: 73.150380 * Longitude: -80.004420 * Date/Time Start: 2013-07-11T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2025-08-01T00:00:00 * Elevation: 20.0 m * Method/Device: Monitoring station (MONS)

Parameter(s):

#	Name	Short Name	Unit	Principal Investigator	Method/Device	Comment
1	DATE/TIME	Date/Time		Domine, Florent		Geocode
2	Conductivity, thermal, snow	k snow	W/m/K	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.22 m height above ground
3	Temperature, ice/snow	t	°C	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.22 m height above ground
4	Conductivity, thermal, snow	k snow	W/m/K	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.12 m height above ground
5	Temperature, ice/snow	t	°C	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.12 m height above ground
6	Conductivity, thermal, snow	k snow	W/m/K	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.02 m height above ground
7	Temperature, ice/snow	t	°C	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.02 m height above ground
8	Conductivity, thermal, snow	k snow	W/m/K	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.07 m height above ground
9	Temperature, ice/snow	t	°C	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.07 m height above ground
10	Conductivity, thermal	k	W/m/K	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.05 m soil depth
11	Temperature, soil	T soil	°C	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.05 m soil depth
12	Conductivity, thermal	k	W/m/K	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.10 m soil depth
13	Temperature, soil	T soil	°C	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.10 m soil depth
14	Conductivity, thermal	k	W/m/K	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.15 m soil depth
15	Temperature, soil	T soil	°C	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	at 0.15 m soil depth
16	Snow height	Snow h	m	Domine, Florent	Heated needle probe, Hukseflux, TP08	daily average value. Snow height at the SR50 gauge can be slightly different to snow height at the TP08 location

License:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0) (License comes into effect after moratorium ends)

Status:

Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)

Size:

15613 data points

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