Characteristics of subarctic snowcover / Les caractéristiques de la couverture de neige presque arctique

Abstract

The areal and temporal characteristics of the snowpack in a small subarctic drainage basin at Schefferville, Quebec, were analysed prior to and during the snowmelt in 1972 and 1973. The data showed that vegetation cover is of prime importance in determining the areal distribution of snowpack properties. The areal distribution of snow water equivalent could be characterized by a normal distribution in each of four vegetation cover types. It was found that the mean and standard deviation of snow water equivalent are closely related to vegetation cover. Also, mean snow water equivalent varies from year to year but standard deviation shows no significant variation. This suggests that mean accumulation is the result of annual snowfall amounts, while the variability is due to the effects of vegetation cover and accumulation processes. The data also showed that during the snowmelt, the variability of snowcover properties shows no significant change. Using the normal distributions of the peak accumulation snow water equivalents, and observed and calculated melt rates, the areal extent of snowcover was determined.