Chemical budgets and chemical quality of snow and runoff during spring snowmelt.

Abstract

Data from catchments ranging from 0.04 to 232km2 indicate that, during spring snowmelt in Tovdal, S Norway, the equivalent sum of ions in runoff is mainly governed by the release from the snowpack of sulphate and chloride, which move more or less directly into the watercourses, carrying with them cations directly from the snowpack or from biological and geological material within the catchment. The concentrations in bulk snow decrease during melting and, therefore, durinf early snowmelt, the concentrations of sulphate and chloride are 2-5 times higher in the runoff than in the snowpack, well in accordance with polyethylene lysimeter experimets. The composition of the cationic counterparts of these anions in the runoff varies with the runoff rate, with high runoff rate yielding the most acid water. -from Authorssnowmelt Tovdal Norway water quality