Niwot Ridge Data used in the development of Utah Energy Balance Snowmelt Model

This resource contains data from Niwot Ridge used in the development of the Utah Energy Balance (UEB) Snowmelt model. This data was provided by Mark Williams. The Niwot Ridge Subnivean snow laboratory is on the eastern slope of the Front Range of Colorado (3517 m above MSL, 40 deg 03’ N, 105 deg 35’ W). Data were collected during the 1995~1996 winter seasons. The instrument site is located in a relatively flat area above the treeline within a broad saddle of the ridge. The high elevation and exposure of Niwot Ridge, and typically dry atmospheric conditions result in large clear-sky atmospheric transmissivity, increased solar insolation, and low magnitudes of incident longwave radiation, low air temperatures, and high wind velocities. The dataset includes measurements of air temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, and incident shortwave radiation from April 28, 1996 to September 30, 1996 with a time step of 2 hours. Measured lysimeter data is also available although there are concerns as to how representative it is due to preferential flow paths (finger-flow) in the snow resulting in under-catch of meltwater (Cline DW, 1997, Effect of seasonality of snow accumulation and melt on snow surface energy exchanges at a continental alpine site. Journal of Applied Meteorology 36: 22-41).

This work is described in

You, J., Tarboton, D. G., and Luce, C. H.: Modeling the snow surface temperature with a one-layer energy balance snowmelt model, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 5061–5076, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-5061-2014, 2014.

You, J., (2004), \"Snow Hydrology: The Parameterization of Subgrid Processes within a Physically Based Snow Energy and Mass Balance Model,\" PhD Thesis, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Utah State University, https://hydrology.usu.edu/dtarb/yjs_dissertation.pdf.