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CO 2 in Arctic snow cover: landscape form, in‐pack gas concentration gradients, and the implications for the estimation of gaseous fluxes
Author(s) -
Jones H. G.,
Pomeroy J. W.,
Davies T. D.,
Tranter M.,
Marsh P.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
hydrological processes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.222
H-Index - 161
eISSN - 1099-1085
pISSN - 0885-6087
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1085(19991230)13:18<2977::aid-hyp12>3.0.co;2-#
Subject(s) - snow , environmental science , arctic , snow cover , atmospheric sciences , cover (algebra) , hydrology (agriculture) , physical geography , geology , geomorphology , oceanography , geography , mechanical engineering , geotechnical engineering , engineering
The physical characteristics and CO 2 concentrations of snow cover in the western Canadian arctic were examined at sites with different landscape forms (valley floor, hillslope, plateau). The greater exposure of plateau snow cover to blowing snow results in differences in the structure of the snow cover and different snow strata compared with snow covers on the other landscape forms. Both higher in‐pack concentrations of CO 2 and the largest vertical CO 2 concentration gradients were found in plateau snow cover, the smallest in the deeper hillslope and valley snows. CO 2 gradients in all landscape snow covers followed two patterns, i.e. where concentrations at the soil–snow interface are higher than those just below (5 cm) and the snow–atmosphere interface and vice versa. The latter pattern is due to the transport of the gas from the lower levels to the upper levels of the snowpack by wind‐induced advection (windpumping) and is indicative of non steady‐state, non‐diffusive processes. These latter processes should thus be considered in any studies on CO 2 fluxes from Arctic soil where snow cover topography and winds are conducive to windpumping and where concentration gradients resulting from diffusive processes have not been clearly identified. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.