Snowmelt energy balance in a burned forest plot, Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, Canada

Forested headwater basins in western North America are subject to major change from natural and anthropogenic disturbance, including wildfire, insect infestation, disease, and forest harvesting. These changes have subsequent impacts on sub-canopy snow processes, particularly snow accumulation and melt, with cascading effects on downstream systems. We apply a simple, process-based point energy balance model to quantify differences in energy balance characteristics between a burned and a control plot. In the burned plot, more snow accumulated on the ground surface, there was more energy available for snowmelt, the snow melted more rapidly, and complete snowpack removal occurred sooner than in the control plot. Although results are comparable to cleared forest stands, standing dead trees in burned forest stands attenuate incoming short-wave radiation, wind speed, temperature, and snow accumulation on the surface to a greater degree than is observed in cleared stands. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.