Snow properties at the forest–tundra ecotone: predominance of water vapor fluxes even in deep, moderately cold snowpacks

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: G. Lackner, F. Domine, D. F. Nadeau, M. Lafaysse, M. Dumont
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2022
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Geology; QE1-996.5; Arctic; Canada; Umiujaq; The Cryosphere; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3357-2022; https://doaj.org/article/8a3c44a330034d16869a74da08fd85a2

The forest–tundra ecotone is a large circumpolar transition zone between the Arctic tundra and the boreal forest, where snow properties are spatially variable due to changing vegetation. The extent of this biome through all circumpolar regions influences the climate. In the forest–tundra ecotone near Umiujaq in northeastern Canada ( <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mn mathvariant="normal">56</mn><msup><mi/><mo>∘</mo></msup><msup><mn mathvariant="normal">33</mn><mo>′</mo></msup><msup><mn mathvariant="normal">31</mn><mrow><mo>′′</mo></mrow></msup></mrow></math> <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="51pt" height="11pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="f1db1439419f1c115d33170bc9fc3b0e"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="tc-16-3357-2022-ie00001.svg" width="51pt" height="11pt" src="tc-16-3357-2022-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg> N, <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mn mathvariant="normal">76</mn><msup><mi/><mo>∘</mo></msup><msup><mn mathvariant="normal">28</mn><mo>′</mo></msup><msup><mn mathvariant="normal">56</mn><mrow><mo>′′</mo></mrow></msup></mrow></math> <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="51pt" height="11pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="5933117e795b4e341763bad4c5c10a2e"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="tc-16-3357-2022-ie00002.svg" width="51pt" height="11pt" src="tc-16-3357-2022-ie00002.png"/></svg:svg> W), we contrast the snow properties between two sites, TUNDRA (located in a low-shrub tundra) and ...