An Analysis of Yearly Differences in Snowpack Inventory-Prediction Relationships

From the Proceedings of the 1972 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - May 5-6, 1972, Prescott, ArizonaInventory-prediction relationships between snowpack conditions and forest attributes may be useful in estimating water yields derived from snow, but such relationships are developed usually from source data collected over a short time period. Analyses of long-term data suggest inventory-prediction relationships developed from limited data may have more general application, however. Available records from 18 snow courses in the ponderosa pine type in Arizona provided source data in this study, which was designed to empirically analyze inventory-prediction relationships developed from long-term snow survey records. The primary hypothesis tested and evaluated by statistically analyzing the family of regression equations representing a snow course, was that, given a precipitation input, the distribution of snowpack water equivalent at peak seasonal accumulation is determined by the spatial arrangement of the forest cover, e.g. basal area. Generally 12 of the 18 snow courses evaluated appeared to support the hypothesis, three courses did not, and three courses were considered inconclusive.This article is part of the Hydrology and Water Resources in Arizona and the Southwest collections. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science and the University of Arizona Libraries. For more information about items in this collection, contact anashydrology@gmail.com