Influence of Snow Cover on Soil temperature and Freeze Thaw Cycles across the United States

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Overview Research Site Status and Provenance Access and Downloads

Section 1: Overview

Name of Research Project

Related Project	Part
GWF-WSPT: Winter Soil Processes in Transition

Program Affiliations

No entries

Related Research Project(s)

Related Project	Part
GWF-WSPT: Winter Soil Processes in Transition

Dataset Title

Influence of Snow Cover on Soil temperature and Freeze Thaw Cycles across the United States

Additional Information

Creators and Contributors

Name	Role	Email	Institution
Fereidoun Rezanezhad	PI	frezanez@uwaterloo.ca	University of Waterloo
Riley Mills	Originator	rhmills@edu.uwaterloo.ca	University of Waterloo

Abstract

Snow depth, air and soil temperature, and soil moisture were downloaded for five locations from the United States Department of Agriculture Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) (https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/scan). These locations were selected for the following reasons: 1) because of their proximity to specific landscape types, and 2) they have consistent data from 2009-2015. For each selected station and winter season, the daily time series data were downloaded for the corresponding ‘Water Year.’ A ‘Water Year’ is defined as October 1st of the previous year to September 30th of the specified year. For example, the 2009/2010 winter season is within the 2010 Water Year. Snow depth measurements were converted from inches to centimetres. All analysis and plots where done using Microsoft Office Excel for each selected station and winter season.

Purpose

Changes in soil temperature, as a result of a warmer climate, will have profound effects on cold regions ecosystems. It is hypothesized that reduced snow cover can result in lower soil temperatures, more extensive soil freezing, and an increased frequency of soil freeze-thaw cycles. The objective of this research project is to investigate whether these hypotheses are supported by recent soil and meteorological observations, from monitoring stations across the United States, with seasonally freezing and thawing ground. This data set will be used to support the project titled "Winter Soil Processes in Transition", which is Pillar 1-2 project under the Global Water Futures Program funded by Canada First Research Excellence Fund.

Plain Language Summary

Keywords

Keyword
Mahantango Creek, Pennsylvania; Lye Brooke, Vermont; Hubbard Brook, New Hampshire; Crescent Lake # 1, Minnesota; Glacial Ridge, Minnesota; Lower Mulchatna, Alaska; United States
Air temperature
Climate change
Ecosystem
Freeze-up
Landscape
Meteorological
Snow cover
Snow depth
Soil moisture
Soil temperature
Thawing

Citations

Rezanezhad, F., & Mills, R. (2019). Influence of Snow Cover on Soil temperature and Freeze Thaw Cycles across the United States. Waterloo, Canada: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN). (Unpublished Data).

Section 3: Status and Provenance

Dataset Version

Dataset Creation Date

Status of data collection/production

○ Planned

○ In Progress

○ Abandoned

◉ Complete

Dataset Completion or Abandonment Date

Data Update Frequency

○ Continually

○ Daily

○ Weekly

○ Biweekly

○ Monthly

○ Anually

○ As needed

○ Irregular

◉ None planned

○ Unknown

Creation Software

Software	Version	File Formats

Primary Source of Data

◻ Unknown/Unspecified

◻ Census

◻ Field collected samples

◻ Field experiment

◻ Field observation

◻ Field survey

◻ Human biological samples

◻ Lab experiment

◻ Model simulation

◻ Previously collected

◻ Qualitative (from observations or interviews)

◻ Social survey

◻ Traditional knowledge

◻ Other Source of Data (Please specify in field below)

Other Source of Data (if applicable)

Data Lineage (if applicable). Please include versions (e.g., input and forcing data, models, and coupling modules; instrument measurements; surveys; sample collections; etc.)

Section 4: Access and Downloads

Access to the Dataset

Does the data have access restrictions?

◻ No restriction (data is currently open to public)

◻ Limited (data is currently under embargo until publication)

◻ Limited (data involves intellectual property issues related to local or traditional knowledge)

◻ Limited (release of data may cause harm to the environment or to the public)

◻ Limited (pre-existing data has been used and is subject to access restrictions)

◻ Limited (data involves human subjects)

◻ Limited (data is supported by industry partnerships)

◻ Limited (data is supported by government partnerships)

Downloading and Characteristics of the Dataset

Download Links and Instructions

unavailable

Total Size of all Dataset Files (GB)

File formats and online databases

◻ Link to online database or web services (e.g., WISKI, ECCC)

◻ Archive files (.zip, .rar, .7z, .tar, .tgz, .tar.gz, etc.)

◻ CSV files (.csv - comma or tab separated value files)

◻ Excel document files (.xlsx, .xls)

◻ Image files (e.g., .tiff, .jpeg, .png, .gif, etc.)

◻ NetCDF files (.netcdf, .nc)

◻ Text files (.txt)

◻ Word document files (.docx, .doc)

◻ Other (Please specify in field below)

Other Data Formats (if applicable)

List of Parameters and Variables

Parameter/Variable	Unit	Frequency	Source

Begin Date	End Date
2009-01-01	2015-12-30

West Boundary Longitude	-156
East Boundary Longitude	-70
North Boundary Latitude	62
South Boundary Latitude	40