Snow‐packing as a potential harmful factor on Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris and Betula pubescens at high altitude in northern Finland

• Published in: Forest Pathology
• Main Authors: Jalkanen, R., Konocpka, B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1998
• Subjects: Northern Finland; Lapland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0329.1998.tb01191.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1439-0329.1998.tb01191.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1439-0329.1998.tb01191.x

Summary Snow‐packing, a combination of ice, hoarfrost and snow on trees, and the subsequent tree damage by snow, were estimated on Norway spruce ( Picea abies ), Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris ), and pubescent birch ( Betula pubescens ) in the winter of 1993‐94 in southern Lapland, northern Finland, near the local alpine timberline around 400 m a.s.l. Snow‐packing on each fully sized tree increased from a few hundred kilograms at 150–250 m a.s.l. to a maximum of 3290 kg at 300–350 m a.s.l. At 300 m a.s.l., snow‐packing per metre of stem increased from 30 to 50 kg on trees < 5 m in height up to 180–200 kg on 20‐m trees. There was 300 000‐480 000 kg/ha of snow accumulated on tree crowns. No stem breakage by snow‐packing occurred at or below 250 m a.s.l., whereas at 290–350 m a.s.l., 0‐46%, 39‐100%, and 0–33% of the spruce, pine and birch trees, respectively, had broken tops. Birch appeared to be the most resistant and pine the most susceptible to snow breakage.