HR: 1330h
AN: C42A-1009    [PDF]
TI: Snow removal and ambient air temperature effects on forest soil temperatures in northern Vermont
AU: Wang, D
EM:
AF: School of Natural Resources University of Vermont, George D. Aiken Center University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401 United States
AU: * Decker, K L
EM: kdecker@mail.arc.nasa.gov
AF: School of Natural Resources University of Vermont, George D. Aiken Center University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401 United States
AU: Waite, C
EM:
AF: School of Natural Resources University of Vermont, George D. Aiken Center University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401 United States
AU: Scherbatskoy, T
EM:
AF: School of Natural Resources University of Vermont, George D. Aiken Center University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401 United States
AB: We measured deciduous forest soil temperatures under control (unmanipulated) and snow-free (where snow is manually removed) conditions for four winters (at three soil depths) to determine effects of a snow cover reduction such as may occur as a result of climate change on Vermont forest soils. The four winters we studied were characterized as:`cold and snowy', `warm with low snow', `cold with low snow', and `cool with low snow'. Snow-free soils were colder than controls at 5 and 15 cm depth for all years, and at all depths in the two cold winters. Soil thermal variability generally decreased with both increased snow cover and soil depth. The effect of snow cover on soil freeze-thaw events was highly dependent on both the depth of snow and the soil temperature. Snow kept the soil warm and reduced soil temperature variability, but often this caused soil to remain near 0 deg C, resulting in more freeze-thaw events under snow at one or more soil depths. During the `cold snowy' winter, soils under snow had daily averages consistently $>0$ deg C, whereas snow-free soil temperatures commonly dropped below -3 deg C. During the `warm' year, temperatures of soil under snow were often lower than those of snow-free soils. The warmer winter resulted in less snow cover to insulate soil from freezing in the biologically active top 30 cm. The possible consequences of increased soil freezing include more root mortality and nutrient loss which would potentially alter ecosystem dynamics, decrease productivity of some tree species, and increase sugar maple mortality in northern hardwood forests.
DE: 1699 General or miscellaneous
DE: 1823 Frozen ground
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (1827)
DE: 4805 Biogeochemical cycles (1615)
DE: 9350 North America
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting