Here is an update from high in the mountains above Teton Canyon! The Snowpack in Teton Canyon flows into Teton Creek and then into The Teton River, recharging water supplies for fish, wildlife, agriculture and valley residents.
The Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) is a measurement of water stored in the snowpack and is used by water managers to track our supply over the winter and spring.
This demonstration gives an example of how SWE is determined. Snow can come in many different densities (think light snowflakes vs heavy wet sleet), but the density of liquid water is always 1 g/mL. Because we know the density of water, we can determine the mass of snow in a given area and translate that mass into a volume of water.
Ultimately, what we want to know is how much water is stored in the mountain snowpack and how will that shape our water supply when the snowpack melts.
Some math and other assumptions:
Snow Density = mass of snow (g) / volume of snow (mL)
Density of water = 1 g/mL
Snow Water Equivalent = Snow Depth (in) x Snow Density (%)
This demo gives a rough estimate of SWE at this location, snow density changes through the many different layers of the snowpack, and we only collected a sample from one layer!
1 мар 2023
