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Sensitivity of Snowmelt Hydrology on Mountain Slopes to Forest Cover Disturbance

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dc.contributor.authorPomeroy, John W.
dc.contributor.authorFang, Xing
dc.contributor.authorEllis, Chad
dc.contributor.authorGuan, May
dc.date.accessioned2023-10-25T19:53:10Z
dc.date.available2023-10-26T20:29:46Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.description.abstractMarmot Creek Research Basin was the subject of intense studies of snowmelt, water balance and streamflow generation in order to generate a five year database of precipitation inputs, snowpack dynamics and streamflow that could be used in hydrological model testing. A physically based hydrological model of the basin was constructed using the Cold Regions Hydrological Model and tested over four years of simulation. The model was found to accurately simulate snowpacks in forested and cleared landscapes and the timing and quantity of streamflow over the basin. The model was manipulated to simulate the impacts of forest disturbance on basin snow dynamics, snowmelt, streamflow and groundwater recharge. A total of 40 forest disturbance scenarios were compared to the current land use over the four simulation years. Disturbance scenarios ranged from the impact of pine beetle kill of lodgepole pine to clearing of north or south facing slopes, forest fire and salvage logging impacts. Pine beetle impacts were small in all cases with increases in snowmelt of less than 10% and of streamflow and groundwater recharge of less than 2%. This is due to only 15% of the basin area being covered with lodgepole pine and this pine being at lower elevations which received much lower snowfall and rainfall than did higher elevations and so generated much less streamflow and groundwater recharge. Forest disturbance due to fire and clearing affected much large areas of the basin and higher elevations and were generally more than twice as effective in increasing snowmelt or streamflow. For complete forest cover removal with salvage logging a 45% increase in snowmelt was simulated, however this only translated into a 5% increase in spring and summer streamflow and a 7% increase in groundwater recharge. Forest fire with retention of standing burned trunks was the most effect forest cover treatment for increasing streamflow (up to 8%) due to minimizing both sublimation of winter snow and summer evaporation rates. Peak daily streamflow discharges responded more strongly to forest cover decrease than did seasonal streamflow with increases of over 20% in peak streamflow with removal of forest cover. It is suggested that the dysynchronization of snowmelt timing with forest cover removal resulted in an ineffective translation of changes in snowmelt quantity to streamflow. This resulted in a complementary increase in groundwater recharge as well as streamflow as forest cover was reduced. Presumably, a basin with differing soil characteristics, groundwater regime or topographic orientation would provide a differing hydrological response to forest cover change and the sensitivity of these changes to basin characterisation needs further examination.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipAlberta Sustainable Resource Development, IP3 Network, NSERC Discovery Grants and Research Tool Instrument Grants and the University of Calgary Biogeoscience Institute.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10388/15181
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherCentre for Hydrology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewanen_US
dc.relation.ispartofCentre for Hydrology Report #10en_US
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/*
dc.subjectSnowmelten_US
dc.subjectStreamflowen_US
dc.subjectWater balanceen_US
dc.subjectHydrological modellingen_US
dc.subjectCold Regions Hydrological Modelen_US
dc.subjectSnowpacken_US
dc.subjectForest disturbanceen_US
dc.subjectGroundwater rechargeen_US
dc.subjectMountain Pine Beetleen_US
dc.subjectMarmot Creek, Albertaen_US
dc.subjectRocky Mountainsen_US
dc.titleSensitivity of Snowmelt Hydrology on Mountain Slopes to Forest Cover Disturbanceen_US
dc.typeTechnical Reporten_US

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