The Contribution of Snowmelt to the Annual Water Balance of Grassland Ecosystems in the Austrian Alps

471-473

Artikel aus einem Buch

200204839

ABSTRACT: The altitudinal variation of precipitation, evapotranspiration, and runoff was quantified with separate inputs for the snow-free and the snow-covered period at 16 different grassland sites between 580 and 2550 m a.s.l. in the Austrian Alps. Along this altitudinal transect, the annual runoff during snowmelt increased from roughly 150 mm at low elevation sites to 480, 520 and 1570 mm at the upper limit of the alpine grassland belt in the Northern Limestone Alps, inner alpine regions, and the Southern outer rim of the Austrian Alps, respectively. A detailed analysis of the data showed that the observed altitudinal increase in snowmelt could be mainly explained by the altitudinal increase of the snow-covered period, even when precipitation did not increase with altitude.
KEYWORDS: snowmelt, water balance, Austrian Alps.