Tundra water budget and implications of precipitation underestimation.

Water Resources Research
Anna K LiljedahlDonatella Zona

Abstract

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...Continue Reading

References

Apr 3, 2004·Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology·L M BakerR M Gogal
Sep 5, 2009·Science·Darrell S KaufmanUNKNOWN Arctic Lakes 2k Project Members
Mar 1, 2012·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Jiping LiuRadley M Horton
Dec 25, 2015·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Donatella ZonaWalter C Oechel
May 1, 1991·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Eville Gorham

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