MS007

Snow depth and snow water equivalent measurements from Benchmark Stations, along a road course, and historic snow course in the Andrews Experimental Forest, 1978 to present

• Creator(s): Alfred B. Levno, Mark D Schulze, Greg Downing
• PI(s): Mark D Schulze, Sherri L. Johnson
• Originator(s): Alfred B. Levno
• Other researcher(s): Greg Downing, Benjamin Nash, Suzanne M. Remillard, Christopher Daly, Stephanie A Schmidt, Adam M Kennedy
• Dates of data collection: Jan 18 1978 - Jun 11 2022
• Data collection status: Study continues and further data collection is planned
• Data access: Online
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/fa08f53adc1b657b2aa12311e91c8ee7
• Last update: Jun 26 2025 (Version 16)

<Citation>     <Acknowledgement>     <Disclaimer>    

Levno, A.; Schulze, M.; Downing, G. 2025. Snow depth and snow water equivalent measurements from Benchmark Stations, along a road course, and historic snow course in the Andrews Experimental Forest, 1978 to present. Long-Term Ecological Research. Forest Science Data Bank, Corvallis, OR. [Database]. Available: http://andlter.forestry.oregonstate.edu/data/abstract.aspx?dbcode=MS007. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/fa08f53adc1b657b2aa12311e91c8ee7. Accessed 2025-07-25.

Data were provided by the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest research program, funded by the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research Program (DEB 2025755), US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, and Oregon State University.

While substantial efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of data and documentation, complete accuracy of data sets cannot be guaranteed. All data are made available "as is". The Andrews LTER shall not be liable for damages resulting from any use or misinterpretation of data sets.

ABSTRACT:
	With an increase in emphasis on monitoring climate change impacts and change in the form of precipitation at HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, snow data collection within our climate monitoring program, a snow course to document depths of snow was designed around a dispersed sampling scheme rather than a point intensive scheme as previously employed in the historic Reference Stand snow course. Primary objectives are to document the presence/absence of snow, snow depth, and time of melt-off. Snow depths are verified using stakes placed near the road to allow for routine and frequent observation. Stakes are placed at different locations, elevations and aspects in paired forested/open sites. Time-lapse cameras were deployed at all the stakes to allow for daily measurements beginning in fall 2014. Truthing of points with snow core sampling for snow moisture content (snow water equivalent) is done when possible, usually 1-2 times per year. Cameras are set to take 3 readings per day (09:00, 12:00, 15:00 PST). One snow depth and coverage is extracted from the images per stake per day. Additionally, snow water equivalence (SWE) and snow depth are measured in high precision at a few of the Benchmark Meteorological Stations (BMS). These latter data streams were stored in MS001, but were migrated to MS007 in 2025.

Study Description

Study Site Map

Download Study Location Information: (CSV) Ecological Metadata Language: (EML)

ENTITY TITLES:
1	Snow depth and snow water equivalent measurements along road course (Dec 8 1994 - Jun 11 2022)	METADATA	DATA
	Snow depth and coverage data from actual site visits, beginning in 1994, and snow stake camera readings, beginning in snow year 2015
2	Reference Stand snow depth and snow water equivalent measurements (Jan 18 1978 - May 14 2003)	METADATA	DATA
	Originally measured at 18 sites; Measurements at the final four sites were discontinued in 2003
9	Snowmelt lysimeter (daily) (Oct 1 1990 - Sep 30 2019)	METADATA	DATA
	Total daily snow/rain water runoff is post-calculated from high resolution snowmelt lysimeter measurements (entity 19); this measurement is now discontinued.
10	Snow water equivalence (SWE) and snow depth (daily midnight) (Jun 16 1987 - Oct 1 2014)	METADATA	DATA
	Data is the median snow water equivalence (SWE) and snow depth for the last hour of each day at VANMET, UPLMET, CENMET, and VARMET
19	Snowmelt lysimeter (fine temporal resolution) (Oct 1 1990 - Oct 1 2019)	METADATA	DATA
	Snowmelt lysimeter measurements occurred at H15MET, UPLMET, and CENMET starting in the early 1990's through water year 2018; this measurement is now discontinued.
20	Snow water equivalence (SWE) and snow depth (median depth for each hour) (Jun 16 1987 - Oct 1 2014)	METADATA	DATA
	Data is the median snow water equivalence (SWE) and snow depth for each hour of at VANMET, UPLMET, CENMET, and VARMET
30	Snow water equivalence (SWE) and snow depth based on episodic snow course measurements near the station (Feb 2 1994 - Jun 16 2014)	METADATA	DATA
	Met Station snow course data is taken every 3 weeks at CENMET, VANMET, UPLMET, and VARMET on fixed transects and around the snow pillow
RELATED DATABASES:
	Meteorological data from benchmark stations at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, 1957 to present (MS001)
	Air and soil temperature data from the Reference Stand network at the Andrews Experimental Forest, 1971 to present (MS005)