CRYONET Site Questionnaire: Col de Porte (France)
Site specific metadata:
Name of site: Col de Porte
Latitude/Longitude/Altitude: 45.30° N, 5.77° E, 1325m altitude
Landscape type (e.g. arctic coastal, tundra, alpine…): Alpine meadow surrounded by coniferous trees.
Onsite technical staff: Not permanently (at least weekly visits)
All-year round observations y/n: n (data are QA/Qced from September 20 to June 10 of each year)
Year established: 1961
Link to website if available: http://www.cnrm-game.fr/spip.php?rubrique218&lang=en
Station manager (Email): col_de_porte@meteo.fr
Organisation in charge of station: Météo-France – CNRS, CNRM-GAME, Centre d’Etudes de la Neige,
Grenoble, France.
Other information: The station is associated to the French glacier observation network GLLACIOCLIM
and to a local (Grenoble) initiative gathering snow/atmosphere observation sites named CENACLAM.
Some measurements are carried out in collaboration with EDF-DTG (French power company).
See details in Morin, S., Lejeune, Y., Lesaffre, B., Panel, J.-M., Poncet, D., David, P., and Sudul, M.: An 18yr long (1993–2011) snow and meteorological dataset from a mid-altitude mountain site (Col de Porte,
France, 1325 m alt.) for driving and evaluating snowpack models, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 4, 13-21,
doi:10.5194/essd-4-13-2012, 2012.
Monitoring of the atmosphere:
Solid precipitation:
Yes.
Snowfall: Yes.
Trace gases: No.
Aerosols: No.
UV, stratospheric ozone: No.
Radiation (longwave, shortwave) : shortwave and longwave incoming and reflected or emitted radiation
measured hourly since 1993.
Others: Full suite of meteorological measurements (atmospheric pressure, air temperature and relative
humidity, wind speed) measured hourly since 1993. Daily averages of air temperature and precipitation
since 1961.
Snow cover
Physical parameters:
Snow depth (hourly since 1993 ; daily since 1961), snow water equivalent (weekly since 1993, more
irregularly since 1961, daily since 2001 (cosmic rays counter)), snow stratigraphy (weekly since 1961:
vertical profile of temperature, density, penetration resistance, liquid water content, snow type, visual
grain size), internal snow temperature using “settlement disks” (hourly since 1993).
Chemical parameters: No.
Others: No.
Glaciers and ice caps
Mass balance (measured parameters):
Ice flow (measured parameters):
Basal water pressure (measured parameters):
Others:
Sea ice
Mass balance (measured parameters):
Meteorology: radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, air pressure (measured
parameters):
Snow on ice (measured parameters):
Ice chemistry (measured parameters):
Others:
Permafrost
Borehole measurements (measured parameters):
Meteorology: radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, air pressure (measured
parameters): All variables mentioned above are measured hourly since 1993. Air temperature and
precipitation is provided at daily time resolution since 1961.
Snow on ground (measured parameters): Snow depth, snow water equivalent (see in section “Snow
cover” for more information).
Active layer thickness (measured parameters):
GST:
Others: Soil temperature at –10, -20 and –50 cm hourly since 1993. Soil temperature and soil wetness at
–5, -10, -20 and –30 cm hourly since 2012.
Ice sheet
Mass balance (measured parameters):
Meteorology: radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, air pressure (measured
parameters):
Snow on ice (measured parameters):
Ice chemistry (measured parameters):
Others:
Other measurements (hydrological, ecological, oceanographic, etc)
Hydrology (measured parameters): 1m2 and 5m2 lysimeters operating hourly since 1993.
Ecology (measured parameters)
Oceanography (measured parameters):
Other thematic linkages:
Linkages to satellite data (describe validation programs, applications of satellite data, etc.)
Participation in international monitoring programmes such as GAW, GTN-G, GTN-P, ….
Networks and start of contribution: No international network at present. Close links with national
research and monitoring networks GLACIOCLIM and CENACLAM.