Comparison of Snow Deposition, the Snow Cover Energy Balance, and Snowmelt at Two Sites in a Semiarid Mountain Basin

Abstract

Abstract Significant differences in snow deposition, development of the seasonal snow cover, and the timing of melt can occur over small spatial distances because of differences in topographically controlled wind exposure and canopy cover. To capture important intrabasin hydrological processes related to heterogeneous snow cover and energy inputs, models must explicitly account for these differences. The “SNOBAL” point snow cover energy and mass balance model is used to evaluate differences in snow cover energy and mass balance at two sites in a small headwater drainage of the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed (RCEW) in the Owyhee Mountains of southwestern Idaho. Though these sites are separated by only 350 m, they are located in distinctly different snow cover regimes. The “ridge” site (elevation 2097 m) is located on a broad shelf on the southern ridge of RCEW, and the “grove” site (elevation 2061 m) is sheltered by topography and forest canopy in a grove of aspen and fir trees just in the lee of th...