The snow_cci SWE product has been based on the ESA GlobSnow SWE retrieval approach (Takala et al. 2011). The retrieval is based on passive microwave radiometer (PMR) data considering the change of brightness temperature due to different snow depth, snow density, grain size and more. The retrieval algorithm handles data from the sensors SMMR, SSM/I, SSMIS, AMSR-E and AMSR-2. The retrieval methodology combines the satellite passive microwave radiometer (PMR) measurements with ground-based synoptic weather station observations by Bayesian non-linear iterative assimilation. A background snow-depth field from re-gridded surface snow-depth observations and a passive microwave emission model are required components of the retrieval scheme. Improvements to the GlobSnow algorithm implemented for snow_cci version 1 include the utilisation of an advanced emission model with an improved forest transmissivity module and treatment of sub-grid lake ice. Because of the importance of the weather station snow-depth observations on the SWE retrieval, there is improved screening for consistency through the time series.

The version 2 dataset has some notable differences compared to the v1 data. In v2, passive microwave radiometer data are obtained from the recalibrated enhanced resolution CETB ESDR dataset (MEaSUREs Calibrated Enhanced-Resolution Passive Microwave Daily EASE-Grid 2.0 Brightness Temperature (CETB) Earth System Data Record (ESDR) https://nsidc.org/pmesdr/data-sets/), the grid spacing is reduced from 25 km to 12.5 km, and spatially and temporally varying snow density fields are used to adjust SWE retrievals in post processing. The output grid spacing is reduced from 0.25-degree to 0.10-degree WGS84 latitude / longitude to be compatible with other Snow_cci products. The time series has been extended by two years with data from 2018 to 2020 added.

SWE products are based on SMMR, SSM/I and SSMIS passive microwave radiometer data for non-alpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere.