Hydrometeorological observations from the rain-to-snow transition zone: a dataset from the Johnston Draw catchment, Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed, Idaho, USA

Abstract

Abstract. Detailed hydrometeorological data from the rain-to-snow transition zone in mountain regions are limited. As the climate warms, the transition from rain to snow is moving to higher elevations, and these changes are altering the timing of down slope water delivery. To understand how these changes impact hydrological and biological processes in this climatologically sensitive region, detailed observations from the rain-to-snow transition zone are required. We present a complete hydrometeorological dataset for water years 2004 through 2014 for a watershed that spans the rain-to-snow 5 transition zone (DOI:10.15482/USDA.ADC/1258769). The Johnston Draw watershed (1.8 km2), ranging from 1497 -1869 m in elevation, is a sub-watershed of the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed (RCEW) in southwestern Idaho.The dataset includes continuous hourly hydrometeorological variables across a 372 m elevation gradient, on north-and south-facing slopes, including air temperature, relative humidity, and snow depth from 11 sites in the watershed. Hourly measurements of shortwave radiation, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and soil moisture and temperature are 10 available at selected stations. The dataset includes hourly stream discharge measured at the watershed outlet. These data provide the scientific community with a unique dataset useful for forcing and validating models and will allow for better representation and understanding of the complex processes that occur in the rain-to-snow transition zone.

Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed and Critical Zone Observatory

“…This policy has continued to the present. Since then, a series of modeling data sets have been published, with appropriate digital object identifiers (DOI's), in which missing forcing data have been gap filled using local knowledge of the climate and correlations with other stations (Enslin et al, 2016;Godsey et al, 2018;Kormos et al, 2013Kormos et al, , 2018Reba et al, 2011;Winstral and Marks, 2014). In addition, all CZO student research data are being published through either the Ag Data Commons at the National Agricultural Library or ScholarWorks at Boise State University.…”