<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v3.0 20080202//EN" "https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/nlm-dtd/publishing/3.0/journalpublishing3.dtd">
<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" article-type="data-paper" specific-use="SMUR" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en">
<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ESSDD</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>Earth System Science Data Discussions</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ESSDD</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">1866-3591</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name></publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/essd-2026-324</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>The Southern Andes Daily Snow Depth Dataset (2010&amp;ndash;2024): Quality&amp;ndash;Controlled Dataset from Chile and Argentina</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Caro</surname>
<given-names>Alexis</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1961-2547</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Medina</surname>
<given-names>Javier</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Saavedra</surname>
<given-names>Freddy</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0298-7198</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Gimeno</surname>
<given-names>Fernando</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Huenante</surname>
<given-names>Jorge</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6219-4974</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Masiokas</surname>
<given-names>Mariano</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff8">
<sup>8</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Orrego</surname>
<given-names>Cristian</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff9">
<sup>9</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Hernández</surname>
<given-names>Ana</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9919-018X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>McPhee</surname>
<given-names>James</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff10">
<sup>10</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff11">
<sup>11</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Pitte</surname>
<given-names>Pierre</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff8">
<sup>8</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Krogh</surname>
<given-names>Sebastián</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2663-7088</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff12">
<sup>12</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Farias–Barahona</surname>
<given-names>David</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0002-2385-7923</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bulovic</surname>
<given-names>Nevenka</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6981-2395</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff13">
<sup>13</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Irarrazaval</surname>
<given-names>Iñigo</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8594-9669</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff14">
<sup>14</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>MacDonell</surname>
<given-names>Shelley</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9641-4547</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff9">
<sup>9</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff15">
<sup>15</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zambrano-Bigiarini</surname>
<given-names>Mauricio</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9536-643X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff16">
<sup>16</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Romero</surname>
<given-names>Carlos</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Department of Geography, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Laboratorio de Teledetección Ambiental, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>HUB Ambiental, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>Doctorado en Ciencias de Recursos Naturales, Universidad de la Frontera, Temuco, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff6">
<label>6</label>
<addr-line>Center for Climate and Resilience Research, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff7">
<label>7</label>
<addr-line>Dirección General de Aguas, Ministerio de Obras Públicas, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff8">
<label>8</label>
<addr-line>Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA), CCT CONICET Mendoza, Argentina</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff9">
<label>9</label>
<addr-line>Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), La Serena, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff10">
<label>10</label>
<addr-line>Department of Civil Engineering, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff11">
<label>11</label>
<addr-line>Advanced Mining Technology Center, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff12">
<label>12</label>
<addr-line>Departamento de Recursos Hídricos, Universidad de Concepción, Campus Chillán, Chillán, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff13">
<label>13</label>
<addr-line>Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff14">
<label>14</label>
<addr-line>Centro de Investigación en Ecosistemas de la Patagonia, Coyhaique, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff15">
<label>15</label>
<addr-line>Waterways Centre, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff16">
<label>16</label>
<addr-line>Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad de la Frontera, Temuco, Chile</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>12</day>
<month>05</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>37</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Alexis Caro et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-324/">This article is available from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-324/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-324/essd-2026-324.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-324/essd-2026-324.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>The snowpack is a critical component of the water cycle in the Southern Andes of Chile and Argentina. In this region, quantitative assessments of snow accumulation remain limited by the scarcity, heterogeneity, and inconsistency of &lt;em&gt;in situ&lt;/em&gt; observations, leading to large uncertainties in mountain hydrological modeling. To address this gap, we compile and quality&amp;ndash;control snow depth observations, which are more spatially extensive and have a higher temporal resolution than snow water equivalent measurements, producing a consistent daily dataset of 81 stations between 21&amp;deg; S and 54&amp;deg; S for the period 2010&amp;ndash;2024. Our quality-control procedure was primarily based on an adjustment of the snow depth ground reference level defined as the soil surface during snow-free periods, followed by the removal of anomalous spikes and observations outside physically plausible ranges. This process substantially improved data reliability, increasing the Physical Consistency Index (PCI), a multivariable metric that evaluates whether snow accumulation events are consistent with precipitation occurrence and lower temperatures, from 87 % to 95 % at some stations, while reducing the median data availability across all stations by 23 % (from 1,392 to 1,074 observations). The snow depth data availability increased markedly over time, from only one station in 2010, to 14 stations in 2015, and up to 57 stations in 2024, largely driven by expanded monitoring efforts of the General Directorate of Water, Chile. However, this expansion remains uneven across the Andean zones. The Mediterranean Andes concentrate the highest station density (39) and the largest number of highly complete records, with 17 stations reaching 80&amp;ndash;100 % data coverage. In contrast, both the Arid Andes and the Wet Andes have only nine stations each reaching the same level of completeness, highlighting persistent spatial and temporal gaps. Using this newly quality&amp;ndash;controlled dataset, we find that snow depth increases with precipitation from the Arid to the Wet Andes, but does not necessarily increase with elevation. The snow depth&amp;ndash;elevation relationship is nonlinear in the Arid and Mediterranean Andes, with maximum accumulation at 4,300 m a.s.l. in the Elqui River Basin and 3,300 m a.s.l. in the Maipo River Basin. In contrast, a positive relationship emerges in the Wet Andes (Maule&amp;ndash;Itata River Basin). This open&amp;ndash;access, quality&amp;ndash;controlled snow depth dataset (Medina and Caro, 2026, &lt;a href=&quot;https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20089265&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener&quot;&gt;https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20089265&lt;/a&gt;) represents the largest and most complete collection of continuous snow depth data for the Southern Andes, providing a robust basis for hydrological applications, such as model forcing and calibration, empirical analyses, reanalysis evaluation, and improved seasonal streamflow forecasting.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="37"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Fondo de Fomento al Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico</funding-source>
<award-id>IT24I0092</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
<body/>
<back>
</back>
</article>