Tundra water budget and implications of precipitation underestimation
Difficulties in obtaining accurate precipitation measurements have limited meaningful hydrologic assessment for over a century due to performance challenges of conventional snowfall and rainfall gauges in windy environments. Here, we compare snowfall observations and bias adjusted snowfall to end-of...
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Online Access: | http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1623450 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1623450 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr020001 |
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1623450 2023-07-30T04:01:59+02:00 Tundra water budget and implications of precipitation underestimation Liljedahl, Anna K. Hinzman, Larry D. Kane, Douglas L. Oechel, Walter C. Tweedie, Craig E. Zona, Donatella 2023-07-03 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1623450 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1623450 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr020001 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1623450 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1623450 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr020001 doi:10.1002/2016wr020001 2023 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr020001 2023-07-11T09:42:11Z Difficulties in obtaining accurate precipitation measurements have limited meaningful hydrologic assessment for over a century due to performance challenges of conventional snowfall and rainfall gauges in windy environments. Here, we compare snowfall observations and bias adjusted snowfall to end-of-winter snow accumulation measurements on the ground for 16 years (1999-2014) and assess the implication of precipitation underestimation on the water balance for a low-gradient tundra wetland near Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska (2007-2009). In agreement with other studies, and not accounting for sublimation, conventional snowfall gauges captured 23-56% of end-of-winter snow accumulation. Once snowfall and rainfall are bias adjusted, long-term annual precipitation estimates more than double (from 123 to 274 mm), highlighting the risk of studies using conventional or unadjusted precipitation that dramatically under-represent water balance components. Applying conventional precipitation information to the water balance analysis produced consistent storage deficits (79 to 152 mm) that were all larger than the largest actual deficit (75 mm), which was observed in the unusually low rainfall summer of 2007. Year-to-year variability in adjusted rainfall (±33 mm) was larger than evapotranspiration (±13 mm). Measured interannual variability in partitioning of snow into runoff (29% in 2008 to 68% in 2009) in years with similar end-of-winter snow accumulation (180 and 164 mm, respectively) highlights the importance of the previous summer's rainfall (25 and 60 mm, respectively) on spring runoff production. Incorrect representation of precipitation can therefore have major implications for Arctic water budget descriptions that in turn can alter estimates of carbon and energy fluxes. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Barrow Tundra Alaska SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Arctic Water Resources Research 53 8 6472 6486 |
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SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
op_collection_id |
ftosti |
language |
unknown |
description |
Difficulties in obtaining accurate precipitation measurements have limited meaningful hydrologic assessment for over a century due to performance challenges of conventional snowfall and rainfall gauges in windy environments. Here, we compare snowfall observations and bias adjusted snowfall to end-of-winter snow accumulation measurements on the ground for 16 years (1999-2014) and assess the implication of precipitation underestimation on the water balance for a low-gradient tundra wetland near Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska (2007-2009). In agreement with other studies, and not accounting for sublimation, conventional snowfall gauges captured 23-56% of end-of-winter snow accumulation. Once snowfall and rainfall are bias adjusted, long-term annual precipitation estimates more than double (from 123 to 274 mm), highlighting the risk of studies using conventional or unadjusted precipitation that dramatically under-represent water balance components. Applying conventional precipitation information to the water balance analysis produced consistent storage deficits (79 to 152 mm) that were all larger than the largest actual deficit (75 mm), which was observed in the unusually low rainfall summer of 2007. Year-to-year variability in adjusted rainfall (±33 mm) was larger than evapotranspiration (±13 mm). Measured interannual variability in partitioning of snow into runoff (29% in 2008 to 68% in 2009) in years with similar end-of-winter snow accumulation (180 and 164 mm, respectively) highlights the importance of the previous summer's rainfall (25 and 60 mm, respectively) on spring runoff production. Incorrect representation of precipitation can therefore have major implications for Arctic water budget descriptions that in turn can alter estimates of carbon and energy fluxes. |
author |
Liljedahl, Anna K. Hinzman, Larry D. Kane, Douglas L. Oechel, Walter C. Tweedie, Craig E. Zona, Donatella |
spellingShingle |
Liljedahl, Anna K. Hinzman, Larry D. Kane, Douglas L. Oechel, Walter C. Tweedie, Craig E. Zona, Donatella Tundra water budget and implications of precipitation underestimation |
author_facet |
Liljedahl, Anna K. Hinzman, Larry D. Kane, Douglas L. Oechel, Walter C. Tweedie, Craig E. Zona, Donatella |
author_sort |
Liljedahl, Anna K. |
title |
Tundra water budget and implications of precipitation underestimation |
title_short |
Tundra water budget and implications of precipitation underestimation |
title_full |
Tundra water budget and implications of precipitation underestimation |
title_fullStr |
Tundra water budget and implications of precipitation underestimation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tundra water budget and implications of precipitation underestimation |
title_sort |
tundra water budget and implications of precipitation underestimation |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1623450 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1623450 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr020001 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Barrow Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Barrow Tundra Alaska |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1623450 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1623450 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr020001 doi:10.1002/2016wr020001 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr020001 |
container_title |
Water Resources Research |
container_volume |
53 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
6472 |
op_container_end_page |
6486 |
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1772812710260506624 |