Please be aware that permission to use any information, data, or figures from these web pages or this study must be obtained from the Principal Investigators. Typically, plants in snow accumulation sites have shorter growing seasons and higher higher soil and plant water potentials than plants in exposed areas.
Low temperatures restrict growth and reproductive processes, which curtails carbon acquisition.
Nadelhoffer et al. 1991, Shaver et al. These wood fences, erected in July 1994, are 60 m long and 3 m high, and were built in sections in order to be lowered to eliminate effects during summer. These fences are similar to that used in a complementary snow and summer temperature manipulation experiment at Niwot Ridge in the Colorado alpine. Permanent plots were established within the snow fence grids and in locations outside of the influence of the snow fences in 1994 and 1995. The photograph above is a color infra-red photo of the snow fence grid locations at Toolik Lake.