Premium
Altitudinal gradients, midwinter melt, and wind effects on snow accumulation in semiarid midlatitude Andes under La Niña conditions
Author(s) -
Ayala A.,
McPhee J.,
Vargas X.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1002/2013wr014960
Subject(s) - snow , middle latitudes , climatology , latitude , snow line , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , watershed , northern hemisphere , spatial variability , wind speed , extratropical cyclone , elevation (ballistics) , physical geography , geology , snow cover , geography , geomorphology , statistics , oceanography , mathematics , geodesy , machine learning , computer science , geometry
The Andes Cordillera remains a sparsely monitored and studied snow hydrology environment in comparison to similar mountain ranges in the Northern Hemisphere. In order to uncover some of the key processes driving snow water equivalent (SWE) spatial variability, we present and analyze a distributed SWE data set, sampled at the end of accumulation season 2011. Three representative catchments across the region were monitored, obtaining measurements in an elevation range spanning 2000 to 3900 m asl and from 32.4° to 34.0°S in latitude. Climatic conditions during this season corresponded to a moderate La Niña phenomenon, which is generally correlated with lower‐than normal accumulation. Collected measurements can be described at the regional and watershed extents by altitudinal gradients that imply an increase by a factor of two in snow depth between 2200 and 3000 m asl, though with significant variability at the upper sites. In these upper sites, we found north‐facing, wind‐sheltered slopes showing 25% less average SWE values than south‐facing, wind‐exposed ones. This suggests that under these conditions, solar radiation dominated wind transport effects in controlling end‐of‐winter variability. Nevertheless, we found clusters of snow depth measurements above 3000 m asl that can be explained by wind exposure differences. This is the first documented snow depth data set of this spatial extent for this region, and it is framed within an ongoing research effort aimed at improving understanding and modeling of snow hydrology in the extratropical Andes Cordillera.