Tuesday February 13, 2024
Aspen Public Radio —
Winter snowpacks are an important source of water in the West, and their size can impact fire seasons. But researchers are finding that wildfires themselves can impact snowpack.
Bright, white fresh snow has a high albedo, meaning it reflects much of the sun’s light. But wildfires, which are increasing in size and frequency, can substantially reduce the reflective power of snow for years. Blazes can also burn off the tree canopy, exposing snow to more sun.
“Following a fire, snow disappears four to 23 days earlier and melt rates increase by up to 57%,” reads the opening of a 2022 paper that University of Nevada Reno geography professor Anne Nolin co-authored. A 2023 paper she also co-authored looked at burns in California and had similar findings.
“You might have a stronger spring freshet, that pulse, you might have more of this water coming down into your streams,” she said. “You’re going to have more of that black carbon actually getting washed into those streams, changing the biogeochemistry, the quality of the aquatic ecology, more sediment coming into your reservoirs. This is a lot harder to manage for, because these dams and reservoirs really aren’t designed for big pulses of sediment. And also water quality is an issue.”