Articles | Volume 19, issue 18
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-8565-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-8565-2026
Development and technical paper
 | 
16 Sep 2026
Development and technical paper |  | 16 Sep 2026

Evolving beyond collapse: an adaptive particle batch smoother for cryospheric data assimilation

Kristoffer Aalstad, Esteban Alonso-González, Norbert Pirk, Sebastian Westermann, Clarissa Willmes, and Ruitang Yang

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Cited articles

Aalstad, K., Westermann, S., Schuler, T. V., Boike, J., and Bertino, L.: Ensemble-based assimilation of fractional snow-covered area satellite retrievals to estimate the snow distribution at Arctic sites, The Cryosphere, 12, 247–270, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-247-2018, 2018. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m
Alonso-González, E.: Inputs (forcing and observations) ready for use by “MuSA: The Multiscale Snow Data Assimilation System (v1.0)”, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7248635, 2022. a
Alonso-González, E. and Aalstad, K.: MuSA: v2.3 AdaPBS submission, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17292981, 2025. a, b, c
Alonso González, E. and Aalstad, K.: Code and data to reproduce the results and figures in: Evolving beyond collapse: An adaptive particle batch smoother for cryospheric data assimilation, Zenodo [code and data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21244337, 2026. a
Alonso-González, E., López-Moreno, J. I., Gascoin, S., García-Valdecasas Ojeda, M., Sanmiguel-Vallelado, A., Navarro-Serrano, F., Revuelto, J., Ceballos, A., Esteban-Parra, M. J., and Essery, R.: Daily gridded datasets of snow depth and snow water equivalent for the Iberian Peninsula from 1980 to 2014, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 303–315, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-303-2018, 2018. a
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Short summary
AdaPBS (Adaptive Particle Batch Smoother) is a new algorithm to combine observations with cryospheric numerical models. AdaPBS is an iterative algorithm that automatically adjusts computing effort to the task, allowing the implementation of early stopping strategies. We tested AdaPBS at multiple sites with different models, matching or outperforming standard methods, when compared against more complex (computationally expensive) algorithms.
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