Snow distribution pattern and its influencing factors in a small watershed in Atlantic Canada
October 9, 2013 - 21:46 by
sheng
Title | Snow distribution pattern and its influencing factors in a small watershed in Atlantic Canada |
Publication Type | Conference Paper |
Year of Publication | 2013 |
Authors | Li, Sheng, Fangzhou Zheng, and Yongbo Liu |
Refereed Designation | Refereed |
Conference Name | Geomorphometry 2013 |
Date Published | 2013 |
Conference Location | Nanjing, China |
Abstract | Snowmelt events contribute significantly to surface runoff and sediment and nutrient loadings in cold climate regions such as in most part of Canada. To better understand the snowmelt hydrology, a snow survey was carried out in a small watershed in New Brunswick, Canada in March, 2012. Snow cores were sampled from 33 predetermined locations, covering different land uses and slope positions. The snow depth ranged from 0.17 m to 0.74 m and averaged at 0.36 m. The water equivalent depth of the snow ranged from 0.06 m to 0.23 m and averaged at 0.10 m. Forested area had significantly deeper snow than cropped area. Points on the edge of the forested area had the deepest snow. The variability of snow depth was high and the variation did not correlated well with terrain attributes extracted from a 30 m grid DEM. A Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) was used to measure the snow depth along transects. The GPR was effective in detecting the soil surface under the snow. The GPR data also demonstrated the strong effect of local topography on snow depth. Future studies are required to examine the use of these data for snow depth predictions.
|