Snow and ice are highly important elements in the cryosphere (Earth's frozen water component) as they are a vital source of stored freshwater (Langlois et al. 2009). It stores freshwater through the winter months are release [sic] water into our ecosystems in the spring as spring freshet, and in the warmer drier months of summer (PyneK, Callegari G 2019). The water that is stored as snow and ice is what hydrologists call Snow Water Equivalency (SWE). It is this SWE that is of primary importance for climatological and hydrological processes (Langlois et al. 2009).
