Sarah J. Nelson, University of Maine Hannah Webber, SERC Institute Ivan Fernandez, University of Maine

Snowfall: Freshly fallen snow. For example, 2.5 inches of snow fell in Bangor on Feb. 27, 2010.

Snowfall: Protocol 9

Snowpack:

Snowpack: Protocol 9

Snow Water Equivalent (SWE):

Snow water equivalent: Protocol 10

Snow Density: the ratio of the volume of meltwater that can be derived from a sample of snow to the original volume of the sample. E.g., 1.2" water equivalent divided by 15" of snow =.08 density (= 8%).

We will measure snow melt: Surface runoff produced from melting snow

How much water?

Stream stage: Protocol 8

How much nitrogen through the snowmelt period?

Nitrogen in stream water: Protocol 7

Snowmelt is surface runoff, but By the time it’s in the stream, was are also measuring what has moved through the watershed (some soil signal, existing water in the stream) Other protocols deal with soils and watershed characteristics – these give students’ questions some dimension!

Watershed scale: snow cover Which places have snow, and how patchy is it?

Density & SWE math Snow Density = Snow Depth / SWE  Density must be in decimal form. For example: 25% = 0.25  Density is usually specified in kilogram per cubic meter (kg/m 3 ). The density of water is 1000 kg/m 3 and snow density is usually measured as a ratio to this. So snow which is 100 kg/m 3 is specified as 100/1000, or 10% (of the density of water).

What’s in that snow? Like rain, needs a condensation nucleus to form Then particles and gases can glom on as snow forms, grows, travels