HR: 1330h
AN: C42A-1007    [PDF]
TI: Shrub Height and Snow Depth In The Alaskan Arctic
AU: * Racine, C
EM: cracine@crrel.usace.army.mil
AF: US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755 United States
AU: Sturm, M
EM: msturm@crrel.usace.army.mil
AF: US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory-Alaska, PO Box 35170, Fort Wainwright, AK 99775 United States
AU: Tape, K
EM: kentape@hotmail.com
AF: Geophysical Institute University of Alaska-Fairbanks, PO Box 757320, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AB: Deciduous shrubs are predicted to increase in size and abundance in arctic tundra with climate warming. However, one barrier to this increase in shrubs may be exposure of taller stems above the snow pack where winter damage from dessication, abrasion, cold and browsing can occur. We measured shrub height and snow depth along transects at several sites from Atquasuk (70.5 N 157.5 W) and Oumalik north of the Colville River to sites south of the Colville River (Ivotuk) and in the Seward Peninsula (64.9 N 163.7W). We found that, although summer shrub heights are often greater than snow depths, these shrubs are usually snow covered by the Deep Cold stage of winter. One or a combination of two mechanisms account for this:1) 'lay over' of stems pushed over by wind or snow load and 2) buildup of snow around and over shrubs by the trapping of blowing snow by a dense network of branches and shoots. As deciduous shrubs become taller in response to climate warming, these mechanisms may allow them to remain protected in the winter despite an even greater mismatch in shrub height and snow depth.
DE: 1699 General or miscellaneous
DE: 1851 Plant ecology
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (1827)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting