Articles | Volume 16, issue 8
The Cryosphere, 16, 3357–3373, 2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3357-2022
The Cryosphere, 16, 3357–3373, 2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3357-2022
Research article
25 Aug 2022
Research article | 25 Aug 2022

Snow properties at the forest–tundra ecotone: predominance of water vapor fluxes even in deep, moderately cold snowpacks

Georg Lackner et al.

Data sets

Hydrometeorological, snow and soil data from a low-Arctic valley in the forest-tundra ecotone in Northern Quebec. Lackner, Georg; Domine, Florent; Sarrazin, Denis; Nadeau, Daniel; Belke-Brea, Maria https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.946538

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Short summary
We compared the snowpack at two sites separated by less than 1 km, one in shrub tundra and the other one within the boreal forest. Even though the snowpack was twice as thick at the forested site, we found evidence that the vertical transport of water vapor from the bottom of the snowpack to its surface was important at both sites. The snow model Crocus simulates no water vapor fluxes and consequently failed to correctly simulate the observed density profiles.