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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #171026

Title: GROUND-BASED SNOWFALL AND SNOWPACK MEASUREMENTS

Author
item DEWALLE, DAVID - PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV
item Rango, Albert

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2008
Publication Date: 7/1/2008
Citation: Dewalle, D., Rango, A. 2008. Ground-based snowfall and snowpack measurements. In: Dewalle, D., Rango, A., editors. Principles of Snow Hydrology. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press. p. 76-117.

Interpretive Summary: Interpretive summary not required.

Technical Abstract: One of the most fundamental aspects of snow hydrology is an understanding of the processes that lead to snowfall and the eventual distribution of a snowpack on the landscape. The factors that lead to the formation of snowfall are generally discussed in the beginning sections of the chapter. Since snowfall once formed, unlike rain, is quite easily borne by the wind and redistributed across the landscape before finally coming to rest to form a snowpack, the basic principles controlling blowing snow are also reviewed. Finally, the interception of snow by vegetation, which can have a profound effect on the amount and timing of snow that accumulates into a snowpack beneath a plant canopy, is described in the final section of the chapter.