HR: 0830h
AN: C41B-0954    [PDF]
TI: Snow accumulation, melt and runoff at the Arctic Treeline in Northern Canada
AU: * Marsh, P
EM: philip.marsh@ec.gc.ca
AF: NWRI, 11 Innovation Blvd., Saskatoon, SK S7N 3H5 Canada
AU: Onclin, C
EM: cuyler.onclin@ec.gc.ca
AF: NWRI, 11 Innovation Blvd., Saskatoon, SK S7N 3H5 Canada
AU: Russell, M
EM: mark.russell@ec.gc.ca
AF: NWRI, 11 Innovation Blvd., Saskatoon, SK S7N 3H5 Canada
AU: Pohl, S
EM: stefan.pohl@ec.gc.ca
AF: NWRI, 11 Innovation Blvd., Saskatoon, SK S7N 3H5 Canada
AB: The storage and release of water from the seasonal snowpack is an important component of the hydrologic cycle in NW Canada. Previous work has illustrated that the end of winter snowcover is spatially variable, and that the surface energy fluxes are also variable at a range of scales. Energy fluxes over the vegetated, complex terrain typical of the Arctic treeline in NW Canada, vary due to vegetation type (tundra vs. shrub tundra), and due to topographically induced differences in radiation regime, wind speed, and turbulent fluxes of sensible and latent heat. This spatial variability in both end of winter snow water equivalent and energy fluxes, results in the development of a patchy snowcover. The development of a patchy snowcover adds another element to the spatial variability in energy fluxes, and therefore melt, due to the local scale advection of sensible heat. This process results in an increase in sensible heat flux at the windward edge of snow patches. This paper will discuss the relative importance of the spatially variable snow cover and energy fluxes in controlling snowmelt rates, the resultant development of a patchy snowcover, and consider the implications to runoff, energy fluxes between the landsurface and the atmosphere, and methods to consider these processes in landsurface schemes and hydrologic models.
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (1827)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting