Gallais et al. (2025) Snow Sublimation Significantly Decreases Following Stand‐Replacing Fire With Minor Water Balance Impacts From Forest Thinning in a Water Limited Forest

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

Identification

• Journal: Water Resources Research
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-01
• Authors: J. R. Gallais, R. W. Webb, M. E. Litvak
• DOI: 10.1029/2025wr042119

Research Groups

Not explicitly stated in the abstract, but likely institutions associated with the AmeriFlux network and ecological research in the Southwestern United States.

Short Summary

This study quantifies the impact of wildfire and forest thinning on water availability for runoff (WAfR) in semi-arid montane environments. It found that stand-replacing fires significantly decrease actual evapotranspiration (AET) due to changes in canopy composition, while thinning has a less pronounced effect on water fluxes.

Objective

• To quantify how wildfire and wildfire mitigation strategies (forest thinning) alter the amount of water available for runoff (WAfR) from montane areas, especially in semi-arid environments, by evaluating individual water balance mechanisms such as actual evapotranspiration (AET) pre- and post-disturbance.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Point-scale (three eddy covariance flux tower sites) within montane, semi-arid environments of the Southwestern United States.
• Temporal Scale: Multi-year analysis, covering pre- and post-disturbance periods, with evaluation of annual and seasonal (winter, spring, fall) water balance terms.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Water balance framework; eddy covariance method for actual evapotranspiration (AET) estimation.
• Data sources: Eddy covariance flux tower data from three AmeriFlux towers (representing stand-replacing fire, forest thinning, and undisturbed conditions).

Main Results

• A stand-replacing fire resulted in a canopy composition change and a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in annual, winter, spring, and fall actual evapotranspiration (AET) after the fire.
• The thinned site showed a moderately significant (p < 0.1) decrease in annual AET after thinning, though this effect was primarily observed in the single year immediately following the disturbance.
• The undisturbed site exhibited no significant changes in water balance terms over the study period, yet it had the most variable WAfR due to high vegetation water use and groundwater subsidy, leading to AET exceeding precipitation inputs for multiple water years.
• Changes in canopy composition following a stand-replacing fire are the primary driver of changes in water fluxes like AET in Southwestern US forests, whereas changes in canopy density (thinning) resulted in minimal changes in water fluxes.

Contributions

• Quantifies the differential impacts of stand-replacing wildfire and forest thinning on water balance components, particularly actual evapotranspiration, in semi-arid montane environments using direct flux measurements.
• Highlights the critical role of canopy composition changes, rather than just density changes, in driving post-disturbance hydrological responses.
• Provides insights into the variability of water available for runoff in undisturbed sites influenced by groundwater subsidies.

Funding

Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Gallais2025Snow,
  author = {Gallais, J. R. and Webb, R. W. and Litvak, M. E.},
  title = {Snow Sublimation Significantly Decreases Following Stand‐Replacing Fire With Minor Water Balance Impacts From Forest Thinning in a Water Limited Forest},
  journal = {Water Resources Research},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1029/2025wr042119},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2025wr042119}
}