Snow and surface scattering layer density, salinity and grain size measurements during RV POLARSTERN cruise PS144

DOI

During the Polarstern cruise PS144 from August 2024 to October 2024 in the central Arctic Ocean snowpit measurements were performed during10 ice stations. A density cutter of fixed volume (100 cm³) and weight was used to measure the density profile of the snow/surface scattering layer (SSL). The height of the sampled volume was recorded with a ruler. 0 cm is the snow-ice interface, negative values denote the surface scattering layer. The combined weight of the density cutter and the snow inside it was measured with a digital scale. The resulting density is the weight of snow/volume. Snow or SSL was collected in plastic containers and used for subsequent salinity and conductivity measurements onboard (using a handheld Greisinger G1410 salinometer). In addition, the grain size was determined visually with a magnifying glass and a screen with a mm-grid and is given as average minimum and maximum size. Hardness using the hand hardness scale and grain types according to the stratification identified by the observer in the snowpit are described in the "Comment" column (the hardness in addition in the Hardness of snow column) . All measurements were done within the vicinity of the footprint of the onboard microwave radiometers installed for the VAMPIRE project https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.990496) (that is, in about 25 m distance to the port bow of Polarstern), further refined in the "Location" column. For more information about these measurements the user is referred to Chapter 6.4 of the cruise report (https://doi.org/10.57738/BZPM_0794_2025).

Identifier
DOI https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.993495
Related Identifier References https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.990496
Related Identifier References https://doi.org/10.57738/BZPM_0794_2025
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.993495
Provenance
Creator Rückert, Janna Elisabeth ORCID logo; Bahlmann, Jonathan; Bühler, Linnu; Risse, Nils ORCID logo; Trace-Kleeberg, Sunke
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2026
Funding Reference Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003207 Crossref Funder ID AWI_PS144_06 SeaIcePhys. (ArcWatch1/TransArc3); German Research Foundation https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 Crossref Funder ID 268020496 https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/268020496 TRR 172: ArctiC Amplification: Climate Relevant Atmospheric and SurfaCe Processes, and Feedback Mechanisms
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International; Data access is restricted (moratorium, sensitive data, license constraints); https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
OpenAccess false
Representation
Resource Type Dataset
Format text/tab-separated-values
Size 724 data points
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (-150.667W, 84.494S, 42.977E, 89.959N)
Temporal Coverage Begin 2024-08-16T17:00:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 2024-09-26T01:00:00Z