Late winter snow‐landscape relationships in the subarctic near Hoarfrost River, Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada

Abstract

Late winter sampling of snowpack depth and density was conducted in five subarctic forest and forest‐tundra landscape types north of the east arm of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories between March 28 and April 9, 1990. Tree and sampling density were nonnormal in distribution in study sites with stems <1500 ha−1, and normally distributed in dense forest. For the Hoarfrost River area, average snow depth, density, and water equivalent were 40.7 ± 7.9 cm, 0.17 ± 0.05 g cm3, and 6.58 ± 1.99 cm, respectively. Variation in snowpack depth and density was low within each site, indicative of relatively homogeneous snow conditions. Snow density was negatively correlated with tree stem density. For the Hoarfrost River area, both snow depth and variability in snow density increased with tree stem density. Variability in snow depth increased with variability in snow density. Snow depth was more variable in forest‐tundra than in forest sites.