Abstract

Spatially distributed snow depth and snow duration data were collected over two to four snow seasons during water years 2011-2014 in experimental forest plots within the Cedar River Municipal Watershed, 50 km east of Seattle, Washington, USA. These 40 m × 40 m forest plots, situated on the Western Slope of the Cascade Range, include control 2nd growth coniferous forest, variable density thinned forests, forest gaps in which a 20 m diameter gap was cut in the middle of each plot, and old growth stands. Airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data was acquired over the study locations to characterize the forest canopy, and meteorological forcing data were collected in both open and forested locations.

Many snow observations, including manual snow courses and snow duration observations from ground temperature sensors and time-lapse cameras were co-located in order to compare observational strategies, as well as to fully characterize the spatial distribution of snow depth and snow duration. Taken together, this dataset provides unique model forcing and validation data for hydrological analyses in a maritime watershed with heterogeneous forest cover.

Data Citation

These data may be used freely for any non-commercial purpose and are offered without warranty. Please cite the data as:

Dickerson-Lange, S.E., Lutz, J.A., Gersonde, R., Martin, K.A., Forsyth, J.E., and J.D. Lundquist (2015), Observations of distributed snow depth and snow duration within diverse forest structures in a maritime mountain watershed, Water Resources Research Technical Note: Data, DOI: 10.1002/2015WR017873

Data

Cedar observational data are archived in the UW Research Works Archive. The complete dataset includes snow depth observations from manual snow courses, distributed snow duration observations from ground temperature sensors and time-lapse cameras, meteorological data collected at two open locations and three forested locations, and hemispherical photographs.

A subset of these data, the fiber optic cable temperature data, are also archived at the CUAHSI Water Data Center. To access these data, go to CUAHSI's web interface, navigate to the Cedar River Watershed (east of Seattle, WA) and then set the date range to 2010-2015 and search for "University of Washington" as the data service.

Co-located Airborne LiDAR data acquisition was funded by the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping, and data are publicly available through NSF Open Topography.