Soil and meteorological data, and finite element simulation framework for heat transfer through shrubs in winter near Lautaret pass, French Alps

The data allow the calculation using finite element modeling of heat transfer through shrub branches and snow between the atmosphere and the soil. The shrubs are green alders (Alnus viridis). The site where they are found is called Alnus-Nivus (45.034750°N, 6.413630°E, 2034 m asl) near Col du Lautaret, French Alps. The soil data consist in temperature and volumetric liquid water content at 5 and 15 cm depths. One spot is near the alder collar (ALNUS), the other spot is 6 m away, under grass (GRASS).

The meteorological data were obtained from the FR-Clt station, 750 m away (45.041278°N, 6.410611°E, 2046 m asl). See (Gupta et al., 2023) for details. Only the data relevant for heat transfer simulations are given.

The simulation framework gives the alder mesh used in the heat transfer simulations. Typical simulations use a wood thermal conductivity of 1 W m-1 K-1 and a snow thermal conductivity of 0.1 W m-1 K-1. Based on observations, the snow height at Alnus-Nivus is likely to be at least twice the value at FR-Clt.  Forcing uses the snow surface temperature, derived from upwelling longwave radiation using an emissivity of 1.  The data allow testing thermal bridging through shrub branches. These data are used in a publication in preparation: Domine, Fourteau, Choler, Exploration of Thermal Bridging Through Shrub Branches in Alpine Snow.

Reference

Gupta, A., Reverdy, A., Cohard, J. M., Hector, B., Descloitres, M., Vandervaere, J. P., Coulaud, C., Biron, R., Liger, L., Maxwell, R., Valay, J. G., and Voisin, D.: Impact of distributed meteorological forcing on simulated snow cover and hydrological fluxes over a mid-elevation alpine micro-scale catchment, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 191-212, 2023.