Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER)/NWTablatraw.nc: Snowpack ablation: Raw data

[For a more detailed metadata record, see: "http://culter.colorado.edu:1030/exec/.extracttoolA?ablatraw.nc"] Lowering of the snowpack surface by ablation (melt) was estimated on a biweekly to weekly basis in the Green Lakes Valley during the summer months. Poles were driven into the snowpack to form transects in several snow-accumulation areas (east face of Arikaree Peak, talus on the north side of Kiowa Peak, rock glacier/wetland between Green Lakes 4 & 5, Arikaree Glacier, Green Lakes 4 & 5, and the Martinelli basin). The height difference (cm) between the snow surface and the top of each pole was recorded. On the subsequent visit the new height difference was recorded and the pole was driven into the snow and the reset height was recorded. Poles in a given transect were relocated as necessary during the course of the season. The Niwot Ridge LTER site (40deg.3'N. 105deg.36'W.) is located approximately 35 km west of Boulder, Colorado, with the entire study site lying above 3000 m elevation. There is a cirque glacier (Arikaree Glacier [~90K photo and caption]), extensive alpine tundra, a variety of glacial landforms, glacial lakes and moraines, cirques and talus slopes, patterned ground, and permafrost. The research area is bounded on the west by the Continental Divide, with runoff on the two sides being destined for the Colorado and Mississippi Rivers. Information about the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program can be obtained from: LTER Network Office College of Forest Resources AR-10 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 Phone: [phone] FAX: [phone] Email: [e-mail] "http://lternet.edu" or National Science Foundation Division of Environmental Biology Long-Term Projects in Environmental Biology Phone: [phone] Email: [e-mail] Information about LTER is also available on-line on most gopher servers and is also available on the World Wide Web (WWW) at "http://lternet.edu/"