Influence of snow ablation and frozen ground on spring runoff generation in the Mogot Experimental Watershed, southern mountainous taiga of eastern Siberia

Abstract

Snowmelt runoff is one of the most important discharge events in the southern mountainous taiga of eastern Siberia. The present study was conducted in order to understand the interannual variations in snowmelt infiltration into the frozen ground and in snowmelt runoff generation during the snowmelt period in the southern mountainous taiga in eastern Siberia. Analysis of the obtained data revealed the following: (1) snowmelt infiltration into the top 20 cm of frozen ground is important for evaluating snowmelt runoff generation because frozen ground absorbed from 22.9% (WY1983) to 61.5% (WY1981) of the maximum snow water equivalent. The difference in snowmelt infiltration for the two years appears to have been caused by the difference in snowmelt runoff generation; (2) the snowmelt runoff ratio increased with (i) increase in the fall soil moisture just before the soil surface froze and (ii) increase in the maximum snow water equivalent. The above results imply that the parameters governing snowmelt infiltration in the boreal taiga region in eastern Siberia are fall soil moisture and the maximum snow water equivalent, as is the case in the simple model presented by Gray et al.