Snow Depth and Snow Water Equivalents at Sleepers River Research Watershed, Danville, Vermont

• Main Authors: Chalmers, Ann T, Shanley, James B, Denner, Jon, Clark, Stewart F
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: U.S. Geological Survey 2019
• Subjects: Climatology,Water Resources; Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5066/p9txqewy; https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/doi-messages/permanent.html

Snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE) measurements have been made at Sleepers River Research Watershed starting in 1960. Initial snowpack measurements were made by the Agricultural Research Service joined by the National Weather Service in 1966. Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory started measuring the snowpack in 1979, followed by the U.S. Geological Survey from 1993 to the present. Measurements started at 2 sites, increased to 13 sites in the 1980's and currently includes 9 sites. Sites range in elevation from 200 to 670 meters and are in a mix of fields and small openings in forests. Snow measurements are made with a fiberglass Adirondack snow tube with aluminum teeth at the tip, tapered slightly inward to retain the core. Five measurements of snow depth and SWE are taken at each site each week and averaged to derive the weekly value we report. This data release includes two tables: Snow course description lists elevation, latitude, longitude, aspect, vegetation, and years of data collection for each site. Sleepers snow 1960-2019 data release includes all the average snow depth and SWE values.