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  7. Observations of snow depth and meteorological variables in forests and nearby open areas at field sites in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, USA
  8. Citizen science snow observations at the McCall Outdoor Science School, McCall, ID

Citizen science snow observations at the McCall Outdoor Science School, McCall, ID

Dates

Start Date
2015-01
End Date
2015-04
Publication Date

Citation

Dickerson-Lange, S.E., Eitel, K.B., Dorsey, L., Link, T.E., and J.D. Lundquist (2016), Challenges and successes in engaging citizen scientists to observe snow cover: From public engagement to an educational collaboration. Journal of Science Communication 15(01), A01.

Summary

Results of a citizen science effort in which students and instructors at the McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS) collected snow observations every 1-4 weeks at their field site within Ponderosa State Park (elevation 1540 m), adjacent to Payette Lake, ID. Students documented snow cover within forested versus open areas at each site via photographs and estimates of the continuity of snow cover. Additionally, snow depth and density were measured via snow pits in the forest and the open. Data were entered via a Google Form, and the results recorded in this table. Site Data Citation for full description of the field campaign and sites. Field photographs are archived along with these data, sorted by site name, with timestamp metadata embeded [...]

Contacts

Principal Investigator :
Jessica Lundquist
Metadata Contact :
Susan E. Dickerson-Lange, Susan E. Dickerson-Lange
Distributor :
U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase
Originator :
Jessica Lundquist, Susan E. Dickerson-Lange, University of Washington

Attached Files

Click on title to download individual files attached to this item.

moss.fgdc.xml
Original FGDC Metadata
View 		20.79 KB application/fgdc+xml
MOSS_Locations_WY2015.csv 603 Bytes text/csv
MOSS_Locations_WY2015_README.txt 1.47 KB text/plain
MOSS_Snow_Obs_WY2015.csv 12.1 KB text/csv
MOSS_Snow_Obs_WY2015_README.txt 3.02 KB text/plain
MOSS_WY2015_Photos.zip 228.58 MB application/zip

Purpose

Climate change is projected to cause earlier snowmelt, with potentially serious consequences for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and for municipal and agricultural water supplies. However, if forests can be managed to retain snow longer, some of these environmental and financial impacts may be mitigated. Recent results from our research team demonstrate that in areas with relatively warm winters, strategically-cut forest gaps could offset climatic warming by increasing snow retention on the landscape and delaying runoff. However, in areas with colder winters, the opposite is true, as snow lasts longer under the forest canopy. We will map these climate-forest-snow interactions across the Pacific Northwest, predicting how forest change is likely to affect snow duration in different locations and testing those predictions against careful observations from our field sites and a network of citizen scientists. Working with regional forest and water managers, we will identify strategies for applying these findings to decision-making, linking climate-forest-snow interactions to ecohydrologic conditions important to management. Results from this project will help managers to act strategically to maximize snow retention (protecting forests in some areas while opening gaps in others), providing more water later in the season for hydropower, agriculture, and fish flows.

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  • National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers
  • Northwest CASC

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