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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Boise, Idaho » Northwest Watershed Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #174539
Title: Variations in below canopy turbulent flux from snow in north american mountain environments

Author
item ESSERY, RICHARD - UNIV OF WALES
item Marks, Daniel
item POMEROY, JOHN - UNIV OF SASKATCHEWAN
item GRANGER, RAOUL - NATIONAL WATER RES INST
item REBA, MICHELE - UNIV OF IDAHO
item LINK, TIMOTHY - UNIV OF IDAHO
item HEDSTROM, NEWELL - UNIV OF SASKATCHEWAN
item Winstral, Adam

Submitted to: American Geophysical Union
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/5/2004
Publication Date: 9/5/2004
Citation: Essery, R., Marks, D., Pomeroy, J., Granger, R., Reba, M., Hedstrom, N., Link, T., and Winstral, A. 2004. Variations in Below Canopy Turbulent Flux from Snow in North American Moutain Environments, EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, Vol 85, (47): F450 (CD-ROM)

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Sensible and latent heat and mass fluxes from the snow surface are modulated by site canopy density and structure. Forest and shrub canopies reduce wind speeds and alter the radiation and thermal environment which will alter the below canopy energetics that control the magnitude of turbulent fluxes between the snow surface and the atmosphere. In this study eddy covariance (EC) systems were located in three experimental catchments along a mountain transect through the North American Cordillera. Within each catchment, a variety of sites representing the local range of climate, weather, and canopy conditions were selected for measurement of sensible and latent heat and mass flux from the snow surface. EC measurements were made 1) below a uniform pine canopy (2745m) in the Fraser Experimental Forest in Colorado from February through June melt-out in 2003; 2) at an open, unforested site (2100m), and below an Aspen canopy (2055m) within a small headwater catchment in the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed, Owyhee Mts., Idaho from October, 2003, through June melt-out, 2004; and 3) at five sites, representing a range of conditions: a) below a dense spruce forest (750m); b) a north-facing shrub-tundra slope (1383m); c) a south-facing shrub-tundra slope; d) the valley bottom between b) and c) (1363m); and e) a tundra site (1402m) in the Wolf Creek Research Basin (WCRB) in the Yukon, Canada during the 2001 and 2002 snow seasons. Summary data from all sites are presented and compared including the relative significance of sublimation losses at each site, the importance of interception losses to the snowcover mass balance, and the occurrence of condensation events. Site and weather conditions that inhibit or enhance flux from the snow surface are discussed. This research will improve snow modeling by allowing better representation of turbulent fluxes from snow in forested regions, and improved simulation of the snowcover mass balance over low deposition, high latitude sites such as WCRB, and during drought conditions at mid-latitude sites such as Fraser, Colorado, and RCEW in Idaho