Snow Crystal SNOW HYDROLOGY (GEOG 4321): HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT 2

Instuctor: Mark Williams
Telephone: 492-8830



Homework 2

  1. Suppose you skied up to Niwot Ridge and drank all the liquid in your 1 liter water bottle, then tightly replaced the cap. Calculate the new volume of your water bottle upon returning to Boulder, using the Ideal Gas Law. Assume that at Niwot Ridge the air temperature was -10degC and atmospheric pressure was 0.5 atm; in Boulder the air temperature was +27degC and atmospheric pressure was 0.9 atm (5 points).
  2. The Green Lakes Valley is located within the city of Boulder Watershed, consequently, it is an important source of water for the City of Boulder. Calculate mean SWE, density, and temperature for Green Lakes Valley, April 1996. To do so, use data from 10 snowpits located throughout the valley. Go to the NWT LTER web page at http://culter.colorado.edu/NWT/index.html. Enter the new site, under Data select Available Data, then Hydrology, then Niwot Ridge/Green Lakes Valley snow cover profiles: Snow water equivalent data.
  3. How well do SnoTel sites work for measuring SWE? Here we will compare manual SWE measurements made at snow courses to measurements made at automated SnoTel sites. Assume that SWE measured at snow courses is the "true" SWE measurement. At Wolf Creek pass , compare annual SWE measurements made in April from snow course data (independent variable) to SnoTel data (dependent variable) (10 points total) .
  4. 4. A Proposal has been made to replace all snow courses in the western US with SnoTel sites. Use the results from the statistical analyses in question 3 as well as your knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of SnoTel and snow course measurement systems to answer the following questions (10 points) :
  5. What is the temperature range and supersaturation range where dendritic snow crystals are found (5 points) ? Answer is in the Avalanche Handbook; in the Earth Sciences Reserve Book room.