LiDAR measurement of seasonal snow accumulation along an elevation gradient in the southern Sierra Nevada, California

Kirchner, P. B.; Bales, R. C.; Molotch, N. P.; Flanagan, J.; Guo, Q.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4261-2014

Articles | Volume 18, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4261-2014

© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Precipitation: measurement and space time variability

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4261-2014

© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 10

Research article

|

30 Oct 2014

Research article |

| 30 Oct 2014

LiDAR measurement of seasonal snow accumulation along an elevation gradient in the southern Sierra Nevada, California

P. B. Kirchner, R. C. Bales, N. P. Molotch, J. Flanagan, and Q. Guo

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Final revised paper (published on 30 Oct 2014)
Preprint (discussion started on 21 May 2014)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC C1519: 'I enjoyed reading the paper', Günther Blöschl, 25 May 2014
- AC C3621: 'Response to: G. Blöschl', Peter Kirchner, 08 Sep 2014
RC C2560: 'Review', Anonymous Referee #2, 18 Jul 2014
- AC C3625: 'Response to: Anonymous Referee #2', Peter Kirchner, 08 Sep 2014

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (10 Sep 2014) by Remko Uijlenhoet

AR by Peter Kirchner on behalf of the Authors (19 Sep 2014) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (19 Sep 2014) by Remko Uijlenhoet

AR by Peter Kirchner on behalf of the Authors (29 Sep 2014)

Short summary

In this study we present results from LiDAR snow depth measurements made over 53 sq km and a 1600 m elevation gradient. We found a lapse rate of 15 cm accumulated snow depth and 6 cm SWE per 100 m in elevation until 3300 m, where depth sharply decreased. Residuals from this trend revealed the role of aspect and highlighted the importance of solar radiation and wind for snow distribution. Lastly, we compared LiDAR SWE estimations with four model estimates of SWE and total precipitation.