Comparison of weather station snowfall with winter snow accumulation in high arctic basins

Abstract Most water balance studies in the High Arctic indicate that the weather stations underestimate annual precipitation, but the magnitude of such error is unknown. Based on up to seven years of field measurements, this study provides a comparison of snowfall at weather stations with the winter snow accumulation in their nearby drainage basins. Snowfall is the major form of precipitation in the polar region for nine months every year. Without vegetation, snowdrift is controlled by the local terrain. By establishing the snow characteristics for different terrain types, total basin snow storage can be obtained by areally weighting the snow cover for various terrain units in the basin. Such a method was successfully employed to compute total winter snowfall in the drainage basins near Resolute, Eureka and Mould Bay. Results show that the basins had 130 to 300per cent more snow than the weather stations recorded. Using revised snowfall values that are reinforced by Koerner's snow core measurements from ice‐caps, it is hoped that a more realistic precipitation map can be provided for the High Arctic.