Accumulating Snow to Augment the Fresh Water Supply at Barrow, Alaska.

With appropriate snow management techniques, it appears that local freshwater runoff can be significantly increased in northern Alaska, providing additional water for community needs. At Barrow, AK, snow fences 1.5 and 2.7 m high were installed in September of 1972, at two orientations (north-south...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Slaughter,C. W., Mellor,M., Sellmann,P. V., Brown,J., Brown,L.
Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER N H
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1975
Subjects:
Snow
Ice and Permafrost
Civil Engineering
*ALASKA
*SNOW
*WATER SUPPLIES
FRESH WATER
SURFACE WATERS
ACCUMULATION
RESERVOIRS
FENCES
SNOWDRIFTS
Barrow
Ice
permafrost
Alaska
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA005031
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA005031
Description
Summary:With appropriate snow management techniques, it appears that local freshwater runoff can be significantly increased in northern Alaska, providing additional water for community needs. At Barrow, AK, snow fences 1.5 and 2.7 m high were installed in September of 1972, at two orientations (north-south and east-west). By February 1973 the fences were very near saturation. Influence of the fences was evident at 10 to 15 times fence height on both sides of the fences. Surface reworking and slight accumulation increases were shown in subsequent April and June measurements. Snow accumulation on adjacent, relatively flat terrain at all three measurement times was about 40 cm depth. The average increase in water equivalent over the drift cross section for the 1.5 m fence was 15 cm, with a maximum of 50 cm within 1.0 m of the fences. For the 2.7 m fence, the average increase in water equivalent was 45 cm, with a maximum of 1.5 m within 1 meter of the fence. Snow density at each measurement time was in the range of 0.40 to 0.55 g/cu cm.

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