Snow & Ice

10 important questions on Snow & Ice

What does it mean that snow is a 'passive' storage? What is then dynamic storage?

It can be present in the catchment without affecting streamflow.... (slide 3)

Smt about passive storage hence causing delay in modeling.

- slide 7

How can ROS cause floods?

Liquid precip can amplify/double the amount of water that becomes available for runoff.
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Example: Rietholzbach Spring 2004

Temp thresholds are very subtle but make a large difference in precipitation type (snow/liquid rain) and runoff consequences.

Daily average temps can mask smaller time scale differences that could cause melt/frost, hence alter the model results.

North facing slopes receive less radiation (remain snow covered longer), south facing slopes receive more radiation and will be warmer (also part of energy feedback, less snow will cause further radiation/temp increase).

Upper Sheep Creek experiment (Idaho) has massive SWE variations, how come? What is the effect?

Wind causes variable snow distribution. Since it is a semi-arid climate, high snow melt in certian concentrated areas will have much higher water availability and thus more vegetation. The vegetation will then adjust the soil in turn.

What is a logical place for glaciers to form?

Places of accumulation, e.g. Due to main wind direction. The accumulation of snow year after year, a glacier will start forming at these accumulation places

Flow of glacier ice:
What is plasticity?

Plasticity: ice does not become liquid, but it can deform under massive amount of weight of ice above it.

When strains becomes too large, fractures can occur.

Glacier comparison of Mosnang (Rietholzback) and Gletsch (Rhone)

Mosnang:
Record low Q during extreme dry summer 2003
Low storage due to drought

Gletsch:
Record high Q during extreme warm summer 2003 
High glacier melt rates

What is a Jökulhlaup?

Jökulhlaup = glacial outburst flood

Iceland: glaciers on top of vulcanoes (that can suddenly can cause melt very efficiently) > very high Q peaks > mega-floods ipmact landscape formation > boulder (10x10 m) transport

Mass balance field of glaciers: where do positive, negative and zero mass balance occur?

Accumulation zone: + mass balance, b>0
Equilibrium line: b=0
Ablation zone: - mass balance, b<0

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

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