Snow Distribution on Forest Clearcuts in the Swedish Mountains

The paper is focused on the problem of choosing observation localities at the margin of forests for snow surveys. A systematic study was made of differences in snow depth and water equivalents of snow accumulation near the boundaries between forests and open land. The field data were collected during the winter seasons 1983-84 and 1984-85. The study involves sounding snow depths and calculating water equivalents of the snow cover from profiles crossing distinct boundaries between forests and clearcuts. The snow accumulation was found to be relatively large in a zone up to 40 m just outside the forest boundary. The accumulation up to 15 m just inside the forest boundary was relatively small as compared to the forest in general. A slight excess of snow in the forest compared to the clearcuts, established at the beginning of the snow accumulation season, gradually turns into a small deficit in April. During most of the melting season the amount of snow in the forest is considerably bigger than in the clearcuts.