CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Braun, L.N.; and Slaymaker, H.O.
Date : 1981
Title : Effect of scale on the complexity of snowmelt systems
Publication : Nordic Hydrology
Issue : 12(4-5):
Page(s) : 225-234
Abstract
The value of using several spatial scales in the investigation of the interaction of atmospheric and hydrologic systems involved in snowmelt processes was evaluated. Studies of the nature of snow and ice storage, energy sources, and stream flow response were conducted during the melt season of 1978 at both a small scale watershed and a meso-scale watershed in the Pacific Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. The release of meltwater at the base of the snowpack at the site scale was found to be a function of snow depth and density and of the timing of peak energy availability. At the small watershed scale, streamflow was primarily a function of snow phenology and variable runoff generation pathways. Streamflow at the meso-watershed scale was shown to be influenced primarily by snow and ice phenology, by the progressive development of englacial drainage systems, by the integrated response of individual tributaries draining slopes of varying aspects, and by lake and channel storage mechanisms. Different methods of analysis of snowmelt systems were also appropriate at the different scales
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology