Soil C and N responses to snow removal and concrete frost in a northern coniferous forest

Climate change in northeastern North America is resulting in warmer winters with reduced snow accumulation. Soils under a thin snowpack are more likely to experience freeze-thaw cycles, disrupting carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) transformations. We conducted a two-year snow removal experiment in Maine to study the effects of soil freezing on soil C and N processes. O horizon soils were sampled during winter and spring of 2015 and 2016, and were analyzed for labile inorganic N and water extractable organic carbon (WEOC) concentrations, specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA254), and potential net N mineralization (PNNM). 2015 was a cold, snowy winter, while 2016 was warm with a shallow, short-term snowpack. Snow removal caused the soils to freeze, but winter rain-on-soil events in 2015 resulted in the formation of concrete frost, as opposed to granular frost in 2016. Concrete frost increased soil ammonium (NH4The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author