SNOW DENSITY IN FORESTS AND FIELDS ON LOWLANDS OF RUSSIA UNDER THE CURRENT CLIMATE CONDITIONS
A.V. Sosnovsky, N.I. Osokin
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Keywords: snow density, forest, open field, microclimate, snow survey data
Abstract
The paper presents a comparative analysis of snow density in forests and fields of plain areas of Russia obtained during snow surveys at 82 weather stations in the periods of 1966-1990 and 1991-2020. On average, snow density in forests is 5-10 % lower than in open fields, primarily due to reduced wind impact and weaker snow compaction. In some regions (western and southern European Russia, southern Siberia), the opposite relationship is observed, which is caused by microclimatic features of forest areas favoring melting-refreezing processes. The ratio of snow density in forests to that in open fields ranges from 0.82 to 1.15. No statistically significant changes in snow density for the two studied climatic periods have been detected. The results clarify the spatial differentiation of snow cover parameters depending on landscape conditions and can be used to improve heat exchange models and estimates of snow storage.
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