Snowcover formation and melt: recent advances and future prospects

✍ Scribed by Philip Marsh

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 854 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6087
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1085(199910)13:14/15<2117::aid-hyp869>3.0.co;2-9

✦ Synopsis

During the last 20 years considerable progress has been made in our understanding of the physical processes controlling snowcover formation and melt. This work provides the basis required for a better understanding of, and ability to predict, the complex role snow plays in alpine and northern environments, including, for example, stream¯ow, climate, ¯uxes of nutrients and pollutants through the snow pack, and subnivean ecology. This paper provides a brief synthesis of the current state of our understanding and critical areas for future research on processes controlling snowcover distribution, melt and runo. A major focus is to review progress to date on the importance of the heterogeneous nature of the snowcover over a wide range of scales.