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4. CRREL Research Report

Title:	Relationships between climate and regional variations in snow-cover density in North America
Authors:	Bilello, Michael A.
Keywords:	Climatology Climate Snow Snow cover Snow density Wind factors Temperature factors
Publisher:	Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (U.S.) Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.:	Research report (Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (U.S.)) ; 267.
Description:	Research Report Abstract: Analysis of snow-cover observations made during November - March at 27 stations in Alaska, Canada and the northern United States for a 2 to 11 year period showed that the average snow density can be classified in four general categories: Category 1 (density 0.20 to 0.23 g/cm^3 ), inland stations reporting light winds; Category 2 (0.24 to 0.27 g/cm^3), stations reporting moderate winds; Category 3 (0.28 to 0.30 g/cm^3), inland and coastal locations with stronger winds; Category 4 (0.32 to 0.36 g/cm^3), cold and windy stations of the Arctic. Skewness coefficients computed for each station showed bias toward lower densities for cat. 1 and 2, and bias toward higher densities for cat. 3 and 4. A nomograph in which the average winter air temperature and wind speed are the independent variables makes it possible to estimate the average snow-cover density for any location in the Arctic, subarctic and North Temperate Zones. A comparison between observed and estimated densities for ten other test stations yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.91 with a standard error of estimate of 0.016 g/cm^3. An average snow density map of North America was drawn and the continent was divided into areas based on the four categories.
Rights:	Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/11681/5736
Appears in Collections:	CRREL Research Report