Spatial Extent of Data
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High Altitude Weather Station Data at USGS Benchmark Glaciers
Since the late 1950s, the USGS has maintained a long-term glacier mass-balance program at three North American glaciers. Measurements began on South Cascade Glacier, WA in 1958, expanding to Gulkana and Wolverine glaciers, AK in 1966, and later Sperry Glacier, MT in 2005. Additional measurements have been made on Lemon Creek Glacier, AK to compliment data collected by the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP; Pelto and others, 2013). Direct field measurements are combined with weather data and imagery analyses to estimate the seasonal and annual mass balance at each glacier in both a conventional and reference surface format (Cogley and others, 2011). High-altitude measurements of meteorological data have been collected since the beginning of the USGS Benchmark Glacier Program adjacent to glaciers in order to support related science. This portion of the data collection includes select weather data that has received basic quality control and assurance. Data is released at three different levels of processing, level 0, 1 and 2. Level 0 data contains compiled raw data, before QC procedures are applied, at the original timestep recorded by the instrument. Level 1 data has received a plausible value check, and minimal manual error identification (e.g. errors noted on field visits). Level 2 data has been through more extensive quality control procedures and is provided at both the original instrument timestep as well as aggregated hourly and daily values. However, beyond the procedures detailed in this document, no additional steps have been taken to manually assure quality of the data. Data outside the main record of temperature and precipitation at each site should be considered preliminary, and be utilized with increased scrutiny.
Author(s) |
U.S. Geological Survey,
Emily H Baker |
Publication Date | 2019-07-16 |
Beginning Date of Data | 1966 |
Ending Date of Data | 2024 |
Data Contact | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.5066/P9EUXIPE |
Citation | Survey, U.G., Baker, E.H., Peitzsch, E.H., Sass, L., Miller, Z.S., and Whorton, E.N., 2019, High Altitude Weather Station Data at USGS Benchmark Glaciers: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9EUXIPE. |
Metadata Contact | |
Metadata Date | 2025-07-31 |
Related Publication | There was no related primary publication associated with this data release. |
Citations of these data | No citations of these data are known at this time. |
Access | public |
License | http://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/ |
Harvest Date: 2025-08-20T05:10:07.086Z