Jones et al. (2025) Snow Accumulation Increases With Forest Structural Diversity in Low‐Relief Catchments

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Hydrological Processes
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-01
• Authors: Mariel W. Jones, Salli F. Dymond, Stephen D. Sebestyen, Xue Feng
• DOI: 10.1002/hyp.70352

Research Groups

Not specified in abstract.

Short Summary

This study investigates the relationships between forest canopy structure and below-canopy snow depth in two low-relief Mississippi headwater catchments, finding that co-dominant tree density and canopy structural diversity are key predictors for a deeper snowpack.

Objective

• To investigate the complex relationships between forest canopy structure and below-canopy snow depth in two low-relief Mississippi headwater catchments.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Two low-relief Mississippi headwater catchments.
• Temporal Scale: Not specified in abstract.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not specified in abstract.
• Data sources: Climatic data, high-resolution forest observations, high-resolution snow observations, leaf area index (LAI), forest canopy surveys, understory surveys, catchment terrain data (e.g., slope, aspect).

Main Results

• Co-dominant tree density is a better predictor of peak snow depth compared to leaf area index, due to its representation of both canopy overlap and interception.
• Canopy structural diversity increases peak snow depth.

Contributions

• Demonstrates that maintaining forest structural diversity contributes to a deeper snowpack, thereby increasing the potential for water storage in snow-dominated low-relief watersheds.
• Identifies co-dominant tree density as a more effective predictor of peak snow depth than leaf area index due to its comprehensive representation of canopy effects.

Funding

Not specified in abstract.

Citation

@article{Jones2025Snow,
  author = {Jones, Mariel W. and Dymond, Salli F. and Sebestyen, Stephen D. and Feng, Xue},
  title = {Snow Accumulation Increases With Forest Structural Diversity in Low‐Relief Catchments},
  journal = {Hydrological Processes},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1002/hyp.70352},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70352}
}