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- Granlund, Nils, et al.
(author)
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Laboratory study of the influence of salinity on the relationship between electrical conductivity and wetness of snow
- 2010
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In: Hydrological Processes. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0885-6087 .- 1099-1085. ; 24:14, s. 1981-1984
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Snow water equivalent of a snowpack can be estimated using ground-penetrating radar from the radar wave two-way travel time. However, such estimates often have low accuracy when the snowpack contains liquid water. If snow wetness is known, it is possible to take it into account in the estimates; it is therefore desirable to be able to determine snow wetness from already available radar data. Our approach is based on using radar wave attenuation, and it requires that the relationship between electrical conductivity and wetness of snow should be known. This relationship has been tentatively established in previous laboratory experiments, but only for a specific liquid water salinity and radar frequency. This article presents the results of new laboratory experiments conducted to investigate if and how this relationship is influenced by salinity. In each experiment, a certain amount of snow was melted and a known amount of salt (different for different experiments) was added to the water. Water salinity was measured, and the water was added step-wise to a one-meter thick snowpack, with radar measurements taken between additions of water. Our experiments have confirmed the earlier established linear relationship between electrical conductivity and wetness of snow, and they allow us to suggest that the influence of liquid water salinity on electrical conductivity is negligible when compared to the influence of liquid water content in snow.
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| 3. |
- Lundin, Lars-Christer, et al.
(author)
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Continuous long-term measurements of soil-plant-atmosphere variables at a forest site
- 1999
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In: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. - 0168-1923 .- 1873-2240. ; 98-99, s. 53-73
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is a major challenge in modem science to decrease the uncertainty in predictions of global climate change. One of the largest uncertainties in present-day global climate models resides with the understanding of processes in the soil-vegetation-atmosphere-transfer (SVAT) system. Continuous, long-term data are needed in order to correctly quantify balances of water, energy and CO2 in this system and to correctly model it. It is the objective of this paper to demonstrate how a combined system of existing sensor, computer, and network technologies could be set up to provide continuous and reliable long-term SVAT-process data from a forested site under almost all environmental conditions. The Central Tower Site (CTS) system was set up in 1993-1994 in a 25 m high boreal forest growing on a highly heterogeneous till soil with a high content of stones and blocks. It has successfully monitored relevant states and fluxes in the system, such as atmospheric fluxes of momentum, heat, water vapour and CO2, atmospheric profiles of temperature, water vapour, CO2, short-and long-wave radiation, heat storage in soil and trees, sap-dow and a variety of ecophysiological properties, soil-water contents and tensions, and groundwater levels, rainfall and throughfall. System uptime has been more than 90% for most of its components during the first 5 years of operation. Results from the first 5 years of operation include e.g., budgets for energy, water and CO2, information on important but rarely occurring events such as evaporation from snow-covered canopies, and reactions of the forest to extreme drought. The carbon budget shows that the forest may be a sink of carbon although it is still growing. The completeness of the data has made it possible to test the internal consistency of SVAT models. The pioneering set-up at the CTS has been adopted by a large number of SVAT-monitoring sites around the world. Questions concerning tower maintenance, long-term calibration plans, maintenance of sensors and data-collection system, and continuous development of the computer network to keep it up to date are, however, only partly of interest as a research project in itself. It is thus difficult to get it funded from usual research-funding agencies. The full value of data generated by the CTS system can best be appreciated after a decade or more of continuous operation. Main uses of the data would be to evaluate how SVAT models handle the natural variability of climate conditions, quantification of water. carbon and energy budgets during various weather conditions, rind development of new parameterisation schemes in global and regional climate models.
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| 4. |
- Feiccabrino, James, et al.
(author)
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Improving surface based precipitation phase determination through air mass boundary identification
- 2012
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In: Nordic Hydrology. - : IWA Publishing. - 0029-1277 .- 1996-9694 .- 1998-9563 .- 2224-7955. ; 43:3, s. 179-191
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Most hydrological models apply one empirical formula based on surface air temperature for precipitation phase determination. This approach is flawed as surface precipitation phase results from energy exchanges between falling precipitation and air in the lower atmosphere. Different lower atmospheric conditions cause different precipitation phase probabilities for near-freezing temperatures. Often directly measured lower atmospheric conditions are not available for remote areas. However, meteorological observations occurring before/after similar air mass boundaries have similar atmospheric conditions that vary from most other observations. Therefore, hydrological models can indirectly account for lower atmospheric conditions. Twenty years of manual observations from eight United States weather stations were used to compare misclassified precipitation proportions when analyzing (a) all precipitation observations together and (b) identified cold air mass boundary observations (CAB) and non-CAB observations separately. The CAB observations were identified by a rapid surface air temperature decrease. A two-surface air temperature threshold method with one threshold all snow (T-S degrees C) and one all rain (T-R degrees C) having a linear snow fraction decrease between the thresholds was used. The T-S (0 degrees C), and T-R (4 degrees C) values for CAB were 1 degrees C warmer than for non-CAB (-1 degrees C, 3 degrees C). Analyzing CAB and non-CAB separately reduced misclassified precipitation 23%, from 7.0 to 5.4%.
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| 5. |
- Feiccabrino, James, et al.
(author)
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Surface-based precipitation phase determination methods in hydrological models
- 2013
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In: Hydrology Research. - : IWA Publishing. - 1998-9563 .- 0029-1277 .- 2224-7955. ; 44:1, s. 44-57
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We compared solid and liquid precipitation mass output from three categories of common model precipitation phase determination schemes (PPDS) to the recorded precipitation phase in a set of 45 years of 3-hour manual meteorological observations from 19 Swedish meteorological stations. In the first category of rain/snow thresholds, it was found that rain/snow air temperature threshold (ATT) is a better precipitation phase indicator than a rain/snow dew point temperature threshold. When a rain/snow ATT of 0.0 degrees C (a default value used in some recent models) was replaced by 1.0 degrees C, misclassified precipitation was reduced by almost one half. A second category of PPDS use two ATTs, one snow and one rain, with a linear decrease in snow fraction between. This category identified precipitation phase better than a rain/snow ATT at 17 stations. Using all observations from all the meteorological stations, a final category using an air-temperature-dependent snow probability curve resulted in slightly lower misclassified precipitation mass at 13 of the 19 stations. However, schemes from the linear decrease in snow fraction category had the lowest misclassified precipitation mass at four meteorological stations.
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| 9. |
- Lundberg, Angela, et al.
(author)
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Snow interception evaporation : review of measurement techniques, processes, and models
- 2001
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In: Journal of Theoretical and Applied Climatology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0177-798X .- 1434-4483. ; 70:1-4, s. 117-133
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A global warming, primarily affecting wintertime conditions at high latitudes will influence the functioning of the boreal forest. The least known term of the winter water-balance equation is evaporation of snow intercepted in forest canopies. Several investigations stress the importance of snow-interception evaporation in coniferous forests and evaporation fractions of gross precipitation as large as 0.2-0.5 have been observed by investigators in Scotland, Canada, and Japan. Evaporation rates as high as 0.56 mm hm1 are reported. The largest differences between the rain and snow interception evaporation processes are the differences in storage. Snow storage (both mass and duration) is often an order of magnitude larger than that for rain. Snow interception changes the canopy albedo although some studies indicate the opposite. Process knowledge is limited because of measurement difficulties but it is known that canopy closure, aerodynamic resistance (ra), and vapour-pressure deficit are important factors. Existing formulations of ra as function of storage location and age cannot fully explain observed differences in evaporation rates. Operationalhydrology and weather models, and GCMs describe snow interception in a very simplified way and might benefit from incorporation of more realistic schemes.
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| 10. |
- Lundberg, Angela, et al.
(author)
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Snow measurement techniques for land-surface-atmosphere exchange studies in boreal landscapes
- 2001
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In: Journal of Theoretical and Applied Climatology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0177-798X .- 1434-4483. ; 70:1-4, s. 215-230
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Snow has been studied widely in hydrology for many decades whereas recent meteorological interest in snow is caused by increased emphasis on high latitudes and wintertime in climate-change research as well as by the need to improve weather-forecast models during these conditions. Ground-based measurements of snow properties are needed both to improve understanding of surface-atmosphere exchange processes and to provide ground truth to new remote-sensing algorithms. This justifies a review of techniques to measure snow in combination with establishment of criteria for the suitability of the methods for process studies. This review assesses the state-of-art in ground-based snow-measurement techniques in the end of the 1990s in view of their accuracy, time resolution, possibility to automate, practicality and suitability in different terrain. Methods for snow-pack water equivalent, depth, density, growth, quality, liquid-water content and water leaving the snow pack are reviewed. Synoptic snow measurements in Fennoscandian countries are widely varying and there is no single standard on which process-related studies can build. A long-term, continuous monitoring of mass and energy properties of a snow cover requires a combination of point-measurement techniques. Areally representative values of snow properties can be achieved through a combination of automatically collected point data with repeated manual, areally covering measurements, remote-sensing data and digital elevation models, preferably in a GIS framework.
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