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| Titel |
Variability of snow depth at the plot scale: implications for mean depth estimation and sampling strategies |
| VerfasserIn |
J. I. López-Moreno, S. R. Fassnacht, S. Beguería, J. B. P. Latron |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1994-0416
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: The Cryosphere ; 5, no. 3 ; Nr. 5, no. 3 (2011-08-17), S.617-629 |
| Datensatznummer |
250002593
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/tc-5-617-2011.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
Snow depth variability over small distances can affect the
representativeness of depth samples taken at the local scale, which are
often used to assess the spatial distribution of snow at regional and basin
scales. To assess spatial variability at the plot scale, intensive snow
depth sampling was conducted during January and April 2009 in 15 plots in
the Rio Ésera Valley, central Spanish Pyrenees Mountains. Each plot
(10 × 10 m; 100 m2) was subdivided into a grid of 1 m2
squares; sampling at the corners of each square yielded a set of 121 data
points that provided an accurate measure of snow depth in the plot
(considered as ground truth). The spatial variability of snow depth was then
assessed using sampling locations randomly selected within each plot. The
plots were highly variable, with coefficients of variation up to 0.25. This
indicates that to improve the representativeness of snow depth sampling in a
given plot the snow depth measurements should be increased in number and
averaged when spatial heterogeneity is substantial.
Snow depth distributions were simulated at the same plot scale under varying
levels of standard deviation and spatial autocorrelation, to enable the
effect of each factor on snowpack representativeness to be established. The
results showed that the snow depth estimation error increased markedly as
the standard deviation increased. The results indicated that in general at
least five snow depth measurements should be taken in each plot to ensure
that the estimation error is <10 %; this applied even under highly
heterogeneous conditions. In terms of the spatial configuration of the
measurements, the sampling strategy did not impact on the snow depth
estimate under lack of spatial autocorrelation. However, with a high spatial
autocorrelation a smaller error was obtained when the distance between
measurements was greater. |
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