The long-term effects of high severity wildfire on snow accumulation, ablation and soil water content

The Colorado Basin States are facing water shortages amidst an increased demand for water, rising temperatures, and ongoing drought. Water supply in the Southwest United States is heavily dependent upon winter snowpack. Climate change and natural disasters have increased the need to understand forest disturbances in the highly diverse climates of the southwest. Knowledge gaps exist in snow studies between Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) stations and snowtography sites. These gaps reveal that water management decisions require a much deeper understanding of the cumulative impacts forest structure has on snowpack across varying topographic terrain. With the greater ability to understand the impact that forest disturbance, terrain, and forest structure have on snow comes an increasing ability for watershed managers to more accurately predict future estimations of snowmelt-generated streamflows. 

Approach

Snowtography is a method used to track and measure snowfall depth by the use of repeat photography to collect daily snowfall. The Workman Creek site includes two snowtography transects running North-South. The transects are distinguished by their location in the forest, referred to as the East Transect and West Transect. The transects are capturing three different areas with varying vegetation type and cover. Each transect is 85m in distance and captures the following areas; open area/burn scar, cool edge zone/burn scar, forest. Twelve TEROS 10 soil moisture sensors and two ZL6 data loggers were installed on the west transect.

Snowtography - Snowpack & Soil Moisture Monitoring Handbook