Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
5-8-2024 11:00 AM
End Date
5-8-2024 1:00 PM
Subjects
Forest fires, Sedimentation and deposition, Snow, Climatic changes
Advisor
Kelly Gleason
Student Level
Masters
Abstract
Forest fires shed light absorbing particles (LAP), such as black carbon and burned woody debris, into snowpacks, darkening snow surface albedo, and advancing snowmelt timing and snow disappearance patterns for decades following fire. Although the role of LAPs in seasonal snow has been extensively studied in recent years, the spatiotemporal variability of LAPs and contributions to snowmelt relative to years since fire and burn severity is still unknown. In the Triple Divide region of western Wyoming, the headwaters of the Colorado, Columbia, and Missouri rivers, we quantified the spatiotemporal variability of forest fire effects on snow albedo, using geochemical analysis and radiative transfer modeling of black carbon and burned woody debris concentrations in snowpacks from a chronosequence of eight burned forests. We found that the postfire radiative forcing on snow due to black carbon and burned woody debris concentrations was greatest immediately following fire and in high severity burned forests, but snow albedo in burned forests recovered over decades following fire to resemble snow albedo in open meadows. Geochemical analysis and radiative transfer modeling enhances our understanding of the spatiotemporal variability of the key mechanisms driving forest fire effects on snowmelt.
Creative Commons License or Rights Statement
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41821
Included in
Recovery of Black Carbon Concentrations in Burned Forests
Forest fires shed light absorbing particles (LAP), such as black carbon and burned woody debris, into snowpacks, darkening snow surface albedo, and advancing snowmelt timing and snow disappearance patterns for decades following fire. Although the role of LAPs in seasonal snow has been extensively studied in recent years, the spatiotemporal variability of LAPs and contributions to snowmelt relative to years since fire and burn severity is still unknown. In the Triple Divide region of western Wyoming, the headwaters of the Colorado, Columbia, and Missouri rivers, we quantified the spatiotemporal variability of forest fire effects on snow albedo, using geochemical analysis and radiative transfer modeling of black carbon and burned woody debris concentrations in snowpacks from a chronosequence of eight burned forests. We found that the postfire radiative forcing on snow due to black carbon and burned woody debris concentrations was greatest immediately following fire and in high severity burned forests, but snow albedo in burned forests recovered over decades following fire to resemble snow albedo in open meadows. Geochemical analysis and radiative transfer modeling enhances our understanding of the spatiotemporal variability of the key mechanisms driving forest fire effects on snowmelt.