<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Snow production results in high volume of snow that is remaining on the low-elevation ski pistes after snowmelt of natural snow on the off-piste sites. The aim of this study was to identify snow/ice depth, snow density, and snow water equivalent of remaining ski piste snowpack to calculate and to compare snow ablation water volume with potential infiltration on the ski piste area at South-Central Slovak ski center Košútka (Inner Western Carpathians; temperate zone). Snow ablation water volume was calculated from manual snow depth and density measurements, which were performed at the end of five winter seasons 2010–2011 to 2015–2016, except for season 2013–2014. The laser diffraction analyzes were carried out to identify soil grain size and subsequently the hydraulic conductivity of soil to calculate the infiltration. The average rate of water movement through soil was seven times as high as five seasons’ average ablation rate of ski piste snowpack; nevertheless, the ski piste area was potentially able to infiltrate only 47% of snow ablation water volume on average. Limitation for infiltration was frozen soil and ice layers below the ski piste snowpack and low snow-free area at the beginning of the studied ablation period.</p></abstract>

Snow production results in high volume of snow that is remaining on the low-elevation ski pistes after snowmelt of natural snow on the off-piste sites. The aim of this study was to identify snow/ice depth, snow density, and snow water equivalent of remaining ski piste snowpack to calculate and to compare snow ablation water volume with potential infiltration on the ski piste area at South-Central Slovak ski center Košútka (Inner Western Carpathians; temperate zone). Snow ablation water volume was calculated from manual snow depth and density measurements, which were performed at the end of five winter seasons 2010–2011 to 2015–2016, except for season 2013–2014. The laser diffraction analyzes were carried out to identify soil grain size and subsequently the hydraulic conductivity of soil to calculate the infiltration. The average rate of water movement through soil was seven times as high as five seasons’ average ablation rate of ski piste snowpack; nevertheless, the ski piste area was potentially able to infiltrate only 47% of snow ablation water volume on average. Limitation for infiltration was frozen soil and ice layers below the ski piste snowpack and low snow-free area at the beginning of the studied ablation period.

Ski piste snow ablation versus potential infiltration (Veporic Unit, Western Carpathians)

Department of Natural Environment, Faculty of Forestry

Department of Biometeorology and Hydrology, Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering

Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra

Department of Landscape Planning and Land Consolidation, Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering

Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Sciences

Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Sciences

Department of Environmentalistics and Natural Resources (FRDIS), Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Snow production results in high volume of snow that is remaining on the low-elevation ski pistes after snowmelt of natural snow on the off-piste sites. The aim...

Ski piste snow ablation versus potential infiltration (Veporic Unit, Western Carpathians)

Published Online: Feb 13, 2020

Page range: 28 - 37

Received: Feb 19, 2019

Accepted: Oct 23, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johh-2019-0026

Keywords
Snow water equivalent, Snow density, Artificial snow, Snow ablation, Soil temperature, Hydraulic conductivity

© 2020 Michal Mikloš et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Ski piste snow ablation versus potential infiltration (Veporic Unit, Western Carpathians)

Published Online: Feb 13, 2020

Page range: 28 - 37

Received: Feb 19, 2019

Accepted: Oct 23, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johh-2019-0026

KeywordsSnow water equivalent, Snow density, Artificial snow, Snow ablation, Soil temperature, Hydraulic conductivity

© 2020 Michal Mikloš et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Snow water equivalent, Snow density, Artificial snow, Snow ablation, Soil temperature, Hydraulic conductivity