Thematic Network on Nordic Snow Network (NordSnowNet)

The Thematic Network, entitled, “Nordic Snow Network (NordSnowNet)“ network will focus on snow and snow related topics such as snow on sea ice, glaciers, snow-related hazards, snow-related environmental issues and social impacts to indigenous and local community in related Arctic areas: making existing Nordic-Arctic research and snow data from observations and models (forecasts and assimilated observations by weather and hydrology models, projections by the climate models) visible for the researcher, data user and education communities. It would support snow-related research and development of applications by exchange of information and data, arranging workshops, training and supporting also informal researcher contacts and meetings.

The main objective is to create a sustainable network for connecting the Nordic-Arctic snow-related researchers and making their results and data visible. The other goals may be listed as follows:

• Continue existing collaboration and start new collaboration within Nordic countries and beyond about snow related research topics.
• Snow information in Arctic is distributed and used by stakeholders to a greater extent than today.
• Information of existing snow-related research and application projects and networks as well as observation and forecast data and resources on snow cover are shared. The existing Web-based framework (https://nordsnownet.fmi.fi/) for open and continuous information exchange is further developed.
• Exploitation of the snow observational network in terms of (1) snow in-situ observations ( (a) enhancing harmonization of the measurement practices, (b) enhancing standardization of data and metadata formats to facilitate the usability and interoperability of snow data ) (2) remote sensing (development of snow retrieval algorithms from satellite-based sensors) and (3) data assimilation (coordinating the development of observational operators to assimilate radiances, in association with the modelling of snow processes) for the benefit of atmospheric and hydrological modelling from hourly to seasonal time scales.

The planned activities of NordSnowNet are:

• Thematic  workshops
• Snow field campaigns
• Training schools
• Extending the presently Nordic-based network to wider UArctic partner coverage
• Sessions in international and UArctic conferences
• Mobility on scientific missions
• Creating scientific benchmarks studies among members that their outcomes can be resulted in scientific publications / reports / white papers.
• Preparing scientific proposals within the network, to ensure funding and continuation of the activities.

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