Journal
HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES
Volume 25, Issue 19, Pages 3012-3029Publisher
WILEY-BLACKWELL
DOI: 10.1002/hyp.8067
Keywords
snowmelt; energy balance; wildfire; forest disturbance
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
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.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available