Automated system for measuring snow surface energy balance components in mountainous terrain
✍ Scribed by Keith A. Sauter; Jeffrey J. McDonnell
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1994
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 807 KB
- Volume
- 8
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-6087
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The ability to continually monitor several meteorological parameters is needed to estimate snow surface energy balance components in mountainous terrain. In remote mountainous locations, limited accessibility and extreme weather conditions limit the use of delicate meteorological instrumentation. Robust instrumentation and radio telemetry are often needed to measure snow surface energy exchanges. This study examined the practicality and effectiveness of robust instrumentation in estimating radiative and turbulent exchanges in the forested Bear River Mountains of northern Utah. Measurement of reflected shortwave radiation was problematic due to possible selective absorption in the infra-red range. This resulted in overestimates of reflected shortwave radiation and decreased estimates of now surface albedo. During high snowfall, the pyranometer and net radiometer were occasionally covered with snow, resulting in inaccurate radiation measurements. Snow typically melted from instrument surfaces in less than one day under full sun. A relative humidity measurement accuracy of f 4% may have resulted in a possible error of 20% in the calculation of vapour pressure. Snow depth measurement with an acoustical sensor was affected by new or blowing snow, which resulted in inaccurate snow depth measurement 16.2% of the time. The longest period without a valid snow depth measurement was 19.5 hours. A new snow temperature thermocouple ladder was designed and constructed and provided accurate within-pack temperature measurements throughout the pre-melt and melt season. KEY WORDS Snow surface energy balance Mountainous terrain Meteorological measurements Temperature measurements Utah, USA * Contact for correspondence and reprints.