Snowfall Interception and Ablation in Needleleaf Canopies: Observations and Model Development. Cebulski, A. C. 2026. ![Snowfall Interception and Ablation in Needleleaf Canopies: Observations and Model Development [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper abstract bibtex Snow falls on forests covering 23% of the global landmass. Here, interception by forest canopies plays a crucial role in the terrestrial water cycle and land-atmosphere energy exchanges. Global changes in climate and vegetation cover have the potential to alter how snowfall is intercepted and subsequently partitioned between sublimation to the atmosphere or unloading, melt, and drip to the ground; however, the understanding required to investigate potential changes to water resources and energy exchanges is currently limited. In cold continental climates, up to half of annual snowfall may be lost to the atmosphere through sublimation of snow intercepted in needleleaf canopies, and in warmer climates, higher melt rates cause a large fraction of intercepted snow to reach the ground as liquid. Snow interception processes are strongly dependent on both meteorology and canopy density, leading to differing process emergence in existing theories developed in distinctive climates, seasons, and forest types. Consequently, simulations of the mass and energy balance of intercepted snow have demonstrated variable accuracy across different climates and canopy structures, introducing uncertainty into predictions by hydrological and land-surface models. Moreover, limited observations of snowfall interception and ablation in needleleaf forests have limited evaluation of existing theories across a wide range of climatic conditions and forest types, thereby hindering diagnosis of process uncertainty in existing models. The aim of this research was to evaluate the suitability of existing theories of snow interception and intercepted snow ablation in needleleaf canopies and link improved process understanding to model development and validation across a broad range of canopy structures and meteorological conditions. Expanding measurements of snow interception and canopy snow ablation processes across broader range of environmental conditions, while also better isolating individual processes, could help clarify the applicability of existing theories and guide improvements to enhance model accuracy across diverse sites. New observations of initial snow interception and throughfall, collected across a range of canopy densities and meteorological conditions when ablation processes were minimal, revealed new relationships for predicting initial snow interception and throughfall. Observations of canopy density and sub-canopy throughfall using Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle-borne Light Detection and Ranging (UAV-lidar), snow surveys, and weighed subcanopy snow buckets showed a strong linear relationship between initial interception efficiency (initial snow interception divided by snowfall) and the snow-leaf contact area. This metric accounts for the potential increase in contact area with increasing snowfall trajectory zenith angle, which is defined as the departure in degrees from a vertical plane. As a result, the snow-leaf contact area was found to be highly sensitive to wind speed in sparse canopies, increasing by a factor of 2 with an increase in wind speed from 0 to 1 m s\textasciicircum\-1\. Contrary to existing theories, no relationships were found between initial interception efficiency and canopy snow load or air temperature. These observations reveal that existing interception efficiency calculations fail in sparse canopies. A new parameterisation was developed that calculates initial snow interception and throughfall as a function of snowfall and snow-leaf contact area, which improved the simulation of throughfall across a range of canopy densities and meteorological conditions. This approach is consistent with several rainfall interception studies that also separate initial rainfall interception, evaporation, and drip processes, and compute interception as a function of canopy cover. However, it extends these existing approaches from those suited to rainfall, by accounting for changes in the snow-leaf contact area associated with the snowfall trajectory zenith angle; a necessary addition given the lower terminal fall velocity of snowflakes compared to raindrops. An evaluation of existing theories representing ablation of snow intercepted in needleleaf canopies was conducted using observations collected by a weighed hanging tree, weighed subcanopy snow buckets, tipping bucket rain gauges, weighing precipitation gauges, and eddy correlations stations, collected across a wide range of meteorological conditions, and with more direct measurements of unloading and drip than those used in previous studies. A new model that incorporates intercepted snow unloading as a function of canopy snow load, wind shear stress, and melt—coupled with a new canopy snow energy and mass balance to calculate sublimation and melt—improved simulation of intercepted snow ablation relative to previous approaches. While existing models have identified canopy snow load, wind, and melt as key predictors of unloading, they performed less well due to incomplete representation of both cold/dry-snow and melt-driven unloading processes. This resulted either from not including the wind-driven unloading process or from approximating intercepted snowmelt and associated unloading as a function of air- or ice-bulb temperature. The new relationships provide a stronger physical basis by representing wind-driven unloading through shear stress and melt-induced unloading as a function of energy balance-based intercepted snowmelt. Moreover, the ratio of snow unloading to meltwater generation during intercepted snowmelt was found to be a function of snow load, in contrast to previous work that used a constant ratio. These new canopy snow mass and energy parameterisations show potential to improve calculation of the partitioning of snowfall by interception processes in needleleaf forests within hydrological and land-surface models. An uncalibrated validation of the new canopy snow mass and energy balance parameterisation was conducted using observations from four distinctive needleleaf forests characterised by differing tree species, canopy structures, and climatic conditions. At sites where observations of canopy intercepted snow load were available, the new model reduced errors in calculating canopy snow load and the duration of snow interception. Additionally, the new model reduced errors in simulating subcanopy snow water equivalent (SWE) compared to an existing model across all four sites. The largest improvements in prediction were observed at the warm, humid maritime site and were attributed to better representation of intercepted snow melt and the melt-induced unloading process. Improved process representation also enabled clearer process-level diagnosis of the influence of snow interception on snow accumulation in differing environments. At two cold, low-wind, and lower-snowfall sites, roughly half of the annual snowfall was sublimated to the atmosphere from intercepted snow. A cold, wind-exposed site with higher annual snowfall had higher unloading rates, which reduced the relative amount of intercepted snow sublimation. In contrast, at a temperate-maritime site with high snowfall, nearly half of annual snowfall melted within the canopy and, combined with drip from this snowmelt, and melt-induced unloading, partitioned the most snowfall towards the ground of all four sites, despite the high initial interception efficiency. This research reveals variability in snowfall interception and intercepted snow ablation processes across diverse canopy densities and meteorological regimes, and shows that this variability has not been fully represented in existing models. New parameterisations of canopy snow mass and energy balance, addressing these limitations, were introduced to more explicitly represent the full range of snow interception processes. This new model provided more accurate simulations of intercepted snow load and subcanopy SWE across a broad range of climatic conditions and forest types and also improved process diagnosis, though further validation is required across a diverse range of sites.
@article{cebulski_snowfall_2026,
title = {Snowfall {Interception} and {Ablation} in {Needleleaf} {Canopies}: {Observations} and {Model} {Development}},
shorttitle = {Snowfall {Interception} and {Ablation} in {Needleleaf} {Canopies}},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10388/18176},
abstract = {Snow falls on forests covering 23\% of the global landmass. Here, interception by forest canopies plays a crucial role in the terrestrial water cycle and land-atmosphere energy exchanges. Global changes in climate and vegetation cover have the potential to alter how snowfall is intercepted and subsequently partitioned between sublimation to the atmosphere or unloading, melt, and drip to the ground; however, the understanding required to investigate potential changes to water resources and energy exchanges is currently limited. In cold continental climates, up to half of annual snowfall may be lost to the atmosphere through sublimation of snow intercepted in needleleaf canopies, and in warmer climates, higher melt rates cause a large fraction of intercepted snow to reach the ground as liquid. Snow interception processes are strongly dependent on both meteorology and canopy density, leading to differing process emergence in existing theories developed in distinctive climates, seasons, and forest types. Consequently, simulations of the mass and energy balance of intercepted snow have demonstrated variable accuracy across different climates and canopy structures, introducing uncertainty into predictions by hydrological and land-surface models. Moreover, limited observations of snowfall interception and ablation in needleleaf forests have limited evaluation of existing theories across a wide range of climatic conditions and forest types, thereby hindering diagnosis of process uncertainty in existing models. The aim of this research was to evaluate the suitability of existing theories of snow interception and intercepted snow ablation in needleleaf canopies and link improved process understanding to model development and validation across a broad range of canopy structures and meteorological conditions. Expanding measurements of snow interception and canopy snow ablation processes across broader range of environmental conditions, while also better isolating individual processes, could help clarify the applicability of existing theories and guide improvements to enhance model accuracy across diverse sites. New observations of initial snow interception and throughfall, collected across a range of canopy densities and meteorological conditions when ablation processes were minimal, revealed new relationships for predicting initial snow interception and throughfall. Observations of canopy density and sub-canopy throughfall using Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle-borne Light Detection and Ranging (UAV-lidar), snow surveys, and weighed subcanopy snow buckets showed a strong linear relationship between initial interception efficiency (initial snow interception divided by snowfall) and the snow-leaf contact area. This metric accounts for the potential increase in contact area with increasing snowfall trajectory zenith angle, which is defined as the departure in degrees from a vertical plane. As a result, the snow-leaf contact area was found to be highly sensitive to wind speed in sparse canopies, increasing by a factor of 2 with an increase in wind speed from 0 to 1 m s{\textasciicircum}\{-1\}. Contrary to existing theories, no relationships were found between initial interception efficiency and canopy snow load or air temperature. These observations reveal that existing interception efficiency calculations fail in sparse canopies. A new parameterisation was developed that calculates initial snow interception and throughfall as a function of snowfall and snow-leaf contact area, which improved the simulation of throughfall across a range of canopy densities and meteorological conditions. This approach is consistent with several rainfall interception studies that also separate initial rainfall interception, evaporation, and drip processes, and compute interception as a function of canopy cover. However, it extends these existing approaches from those suited to rainfall, by accounting for changes in the snow-leaf contact area associated with the snowfall trajectory zenith angle; a necessary addition given the lower terminal fall velocity of snowflakes compared to raindrops. An evaluation of existing theories representing ablation of snow intercepted in needleleaf canopies was conducted using observations collected by a weighed hanging tree, weighed subcanopy snow buckets, tipping bucket rain gauges, weighing precipitation gauges, and eddy correlations stations, collected across a wide range of meteorological conditions, and with more direct measurements of unloading and drip than those used in previous studies. A new model that incorporates intercepted snow unloading as a function of canopy snow load, wind shear stress, and melt—coupled with a new canopy snow energy and mass balance to calculate sublimation and melt—improved simulation of intercepted snow ablation relative to previous approaches. While existing models have identified canopy snow load, wind, and melt as key predictors of unloading, they performed less well due to incomplete representation of both cold/dry-snow and melt-driven unloading processes. This resulted either from not including the wind-driven unloading process or from approximating intercepted snowmelt and associated unloading as a function of air- or ice-bulb temperature. The new relationships provide a stronger physical basis by representing wind-driven unloading through shear stress and melt-induced unloading as a function of energy balance-based intercepted snowmelt. Moreover, the ratio of snow unloading to meltwater generation during intercepted snowmelt was found to be a function of snow load, in contrast to previous work that used a constant ratio. These new canopy snow mass and energy parameterisations show potential to improve calculation of the partitioning of snowfall by interception processes in needleleaf forests within hydrological and land-surface models. An uncalibrated validation of the new canopy snow mass and energy balance parameterisation was conducted using observations from four distinctive needleleaf forests characterised by differing tree species, canopy structures, and climatic conditions. At sites where observations of canopy intercepted snow load were available, the new model reduced errors in calculating canopy snow load and the duration of snow interception. Additionally, the new model reduced errors in simulating subcanopy snow water equivalent (SWE) compared to an existing model across all four sites. The largest improvements in prediction were observed at the warm, humid maritime site and were attributed to better representation of intercepted snow melt and the melt-induced unloading process. Improved process representation also enabled clearer process-level diagnosis of the influence of snow interception on snow accumulation in differing environments. At two cold, low-wind, and lower-snowfall sites, roughly half of the annual snowfall was sublimated to the atmosphere from intercepted snow. A cold, wind-exposed site with higher annual snowfall had higher unloading rates, which reduced the relative amount of intercepted snow sublimation. In contrast, at a temperate-maritime site with high snowfall, nearly half of annual snowfall melted within the canopy and, combined with drip from this snowmelt, and melt-induced unloading, partitioned the most snowfall towards the ground of all four sites, despite the high initial interception efficiency. This research reveals variability in snowfall interception and intercepted snow ablation processes across diverse canopy densities and meteorological regimes, and shows that this variability has not been fully represented in existing models. New parameterisations of canopy snow mass and energy balance, addressing these limitations, were introduced to more explicitly represent the full range of snow interception processes. This new model provided more accurate simulations of intercepted snow load and subcanopy SWE across a broad range of climatic conditions and forest types and also improved process diagnosis, though further validation is required across a diverse range of sites.},
language = {en},
urldate = {2026-06-01},
author = {Cebulski, Alex C.},
year = {2026},
keywords = {NALCMS},
}
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In cold continental climates, up to half of annual snowfall may be lost to the atmosphere through sublimation of snow intercepted in needleleaf canopies, and in warmer climates, higher melt rates cause a large fraction of intercepted snow to reach the ground as liquid. Snow interception processes are strongly dependent on both meteorology and canopy density, leading to differing process emergence in existing theories developed in distinctive climates, seasons, and forest types. Consequently, simulations of the mass and energy balance of intercepted snow have demonstrated variable accuracy across different climates and canopy structures, introducing uncertainty into predictions by hydrological and land-surface models. Moreover, limited observations of snowfall interception and ablation in needleleaf forests have limited evaluation of existing theories across a wide range of climatic conditions and forest types, thereby hindering diagnosis of process uncertainty in existing models. The aim of this research was to evaluate the suitability of existing theories of snow interception and intercepted snow ablation in needleleaf canopies and link improved process understanding to model development and validation across a broad range of canopy structures and meteorological conditions. Expanding measurements of snow interception and canopy snow ablation processes across broader range of environmental conditions, while also better isolating individual processes, could help clarify the applicability of existing theories and guide improvements to enhance model accuracy across diverse sites. New observations of initial snow interception and throughfall, collected across a range of canopy densities and meteorological conditions when ablation processes were minimal, revealed new relationships for predicting initial snow interception and throughfall. Observations of canopy density and sub-canopy throughfall using Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle-borne Light Detection and Ranging (UAV-lidar), snow surveys, and weighed subcanopy snow buckets showed a strong linear relationship between initial interception efficiency (initial snow interception divided by snowfall) and the snow-leaf contact area. This metric accounts for the potential increase in contact area with increasing snowfall trajectory zenith angle, which is defined as the departure in degrees from a vertical plane. As a result, the snow-leaf contact area was found to be highly sensitive to wind speed in sparse canopies, increasing by a factor of 2 with an increase in wind speed from 0 to 1 m s\\textasciicircum\\-1\\. Contrary to existing theories, no relationships were found between initial interception efficiency and canopy snow load or air temperature. These observations reveal that existing interception efficiency calculations fail in sparse canopies. A new parameterisation was developed that calculates initial snow interception and throughfall as a function of snowfall and snow-leaf contact area, which improved the simulation of throughfall across a range of canopy densities and meteorological conditions. This approach is consistent with several rainfall interception studies that also separate initial rainfall interception, evaporation, and drip processes, and compute interception as a function of canopy cover. However, it extends these existing approaches from those suited to rainfall, by accounting for changes in the snow-leaf contact area associated with the snowfall trajectory zenith angle; a necessary addition given the lower terminal fall velocity of snowflakes compared to raindrops. An evaluation of existing theories representing ablation of snow intercepted in needleleaf canopies was conducted using observations collected by a weighed hanging tree, weighed subcanopy snow buckets, tipping bucket rain gauges, weighing precipitation gauges, and eddy correlations stations, collected across a wide range of meteorological conditions, and with more direct measurements of unloading and drip than those used in previous studies. A new model that incorporates intercepted snow unloading as a function of canopy snow load, wind shear stress, and melt—coupled with a new canopy snow energy and mass balance to calculate sublimation and melt—improved simulation of intercepted snow ablation relative to previous approaches. While existing models have identified canopy snow load, wind, and melt as key predictors of unloading, they performed less well due to incomplete representation of both cold/dry-snow and melt-driven unloading processes. This resulted either from not including the wind-driven unloading process or from approximating intercepted snowmelt and associated unloading as a function of air- or ice-bulb temperature. The new relationships provide a stronger physical basis by representing wind-driven unloading through shear stress and melt-induced unloading as a function of energy balance-based intercepted snowmelt. Moreover, the ratio of snow unloading to meltwater generation during intercepted snowmelt was found to be a function of snow load, in contrast to previous work that used a constant ratio. These new canopy snow mass and energy parameterisations show potential to improve calculation of the partitioning of snowfall by interception processes in needleleaf forests within hydrological and land-surface models. An uncalibrated validation of the new canopy snow mass and energy balance parameterisation was conducted using observations from four distinctive needleleaf forests characterised by differing tree species, canopy structures, and climatic conditions. At sites where observations of canopy intercepted snow load were available, the new model reduced errors in calculating canopy snow load and the duration of snow interception. Additionally, the new model reduced errors in simulating subcanopy snow water equivalent (SWE) compared to an existing model across all four sites. The largest improvements in prediction were observed at the warm, humid maritime site and were attributed to better representation of intercepted snow melt and the melt-induced unloading process. Improved process representation also enabled clearer process-level diagnosis of the influence of snow interception on snow accumulation in differing environments. At two cold, low-wind, and lower-snowfall sites, roughly half of the annual snowfall was sublimated to the atmosphere from intercepted snow. A cold, wind-exposed site with higher annual snowfall had higher unloading rates, which reduced the relative amount of intercepted snow sublimation. In contrast, at a temperate-maritime site with high snowfall, nearly half of annual snowfall melted within the canopy and, combined with drip from this snowmelt, and melt-induced unloading, partitioned the most snowfall towards the ground of all four sites, despite the high initial interception efficiency. This research reveals variability in snowfall interception and intercepted snow ablation processes across diverse canopy densities and meteorological regimes, and shows that this variability has not been fully represented in existing models. New parameterisations of canopy snow mass and energy balance, addressing these limitations, were introduced to more explicitly represent the full range of snow interception processes. This new model provided more accurate simulations of intercepted snow load and subcanopy SWE across a broad range of climatic conditions and forest types and also improved process diagnosis, though further validation is required across a diverse range of sites.","language":"en","urldate":"2026-06-01","author":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Cebulski"],"firstnames":["Alex","C."],"suffixes":[]}],"year":"2026","keywords":"NALCMS","bibtex":"@article{cebulski_snowfall_2026,\n\ttitle = {Snowfall {Interception} and {Ablation} in {Needleleaf} {Canopies}: {Observations} and {Model} {Development}},\n\tshorttitle = {Snowfall {Interception} and {Ablation} in {Needleleaf} {Canopies}},\n\turl = {https://hdl.handle.net/10388/18176},\n\tabstract = {Snow falls on forests covering 23\\% of the global landmass. Here, interception by forest canopies plays a crucial role in the terrestrial water cycle and land-atmosphere energy exchanges. Global changes in climate and vegetation cover have the potential to alter how snowfall is intercepted and subsequently partitioned between sublimation to the atmosphere or unloading, melt, and drip to the ground; however, the understanding required to investigate potential changes to water resources and energy exchanges is currently limited. In cold continental climates, up to half of annual snowfall may be lost to the atmosphere through sublimation of snow intercepted in needleleaf canopies, and in warmer climates, higher melt rates cause a large fraction of intercepted snow to reach the ground as liquid. Snow interception processes are strongly dependent on both meteorology and canopy density, leading to differing process emergence in existing theories developed in distinctive climates, seasons, and forest types. Consequently, simulations of the mass and energy balance of intercepted snow have demonstrated variable accuracy across different climates and canopy structures, introducing uncertainty into predictions by hydrological and land-surface models. Moreover, limited observations of snowfall interception and ablation in needleleaf forests have limited evaluation of existing theories across a wide range of climatic conditions and forest types, thereby hindering diagnosis of process uncertainty in existing models. The aim of this research was to evaluate the suitability of existing theories of snow interception and intercepted snow ablation in needleleaf canopies and link improved process understanding to model development and validation across a broad range of canopy structures and meteorological conditions. Expanding measurements of snow interception and canopy snow ablation processes across broader range of environmental conditions, while also better isolating individual processes, could help clarify the applicability of existing theories and guide improvements to enhance model accuracy across diverse sites. New observations of initial snow interception and throughfall, collected across a range of canopy densities and meteorological conditions when ablation processes were minimal, revealed new relationships for predicting initial snow interception and throughfall. Observations of canopy density and sub-canopy throughfall using Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle-borne Light Detection and Ranging (UAV-lidar), snow surveys, and weighed subcanopy snow buckets showed a strong linear relationship between initial interception efficiency (initial snow interception divided by snowfall) and the snow-leaf contact area. This metric accounts for the potential increase in contact area with increasing snowfall trajectory zenith angle, which is defined as the departure in degrees from a vertical plane. As a result, the snow-leaf contact area was found to be highly sensitive to wind speed in sparse canopies, increasing by a factor of 2 with an increase in wind speed from 0 to 1 m s{\\textasciicircum}\\{-1\\}. Contrary to existing theories, no relationships were found between initial interception efficiency and canopy snow load or air temperature. These observations reveal that existing interception efficiency calculations fail in sparse canopies. A new parameterisation was developed that calculates initial snow interception and throughfall as a function of snowfall and snow-leaf contact area, which improved the simulation of throughfall across a range of canopy densities and meteorological conditions. This approach is consistent with several rainfall interception studies that also separate initial rainfall interception, evaporation, and drip processes, and compute interception as a function of canopy cover. However, it extends these existing approaches from those suited to rainfall, by accounting for changes in the snow-leaf contact area associated with the snowfall trajectory zenith angle; a necessary addition given the lower terminal fall velocity of snowflakes compared to raindrops. An evaluation of existing theories representing ablation of snow intercepted in needleleaf canopies was conducted using observations collected by a weighed hanging tree, weighed subcanopy snow buckets, tipping bucket rain gauges, weighing precipitation gauges, and eddy correlations stations, collected across a wide range of meteorological conditions, and with more direct measurements of unloading and drip than those used in previous studies. A new model that incorporates intercepted snow unloading as a function of canopy snow load, wind shear stress, and melt—coupled with a new canopy snow energy and mass balance to calculate sublimation and melt—improved simulation of intercepted snow ablation relative to previous approaches. While existing models have identified canopy snow load, wind, and melt as key predictors of unloading, they performed less well due to incomplete representation of both cold/dry-snow and melt-driven unloading processes. This resulted either from not including the wind-driven unloading process or from approximating intercepted snowmelt and associated unloading as a function of air- or ice-bulb temperature. The new relationships provide a stronger physical basis by representing wind-driven unloading through shear stress and melt-induced unloading as a function of energy balance-based intercepted snowmelt. Moreover, the ratio of snow unloading to meltwater generation during intercepted snowmelt was found to be a function of snow load, in contrast to previous work that used a constant ratio. These new canopy snow mass and energy parameterisations show potential to improve calculation of the partitioning of snowfall by interception processes in needleleaf forests within hydrological and land-surface models. An uncalibrated validation of the new canopy snow mass and energy balance parameterisation was conducted using observations from four distinctive needleleaf forests characterised by differing tree species, canopy structures, and climatic conditions. At sites where observations of canopy intercepted snow load were available, the new model reduced errors in calculating canopy snow load and the duration of snow interception. Additionally, the new model reduced errors in simulating subcanopy snow water equivalent (SWE) compared to an existing model across all four sites. The largest improvements in prediction were observed at the warm, humid maritime site and were attributed to better representation of intercepted snow melt and the melt-induced unloading process. Improved process representation also enabled clearer process-level diagnosis of the influence of snow interception on snow accumulation in differing environments. At two cold, low-wind, and lower-snowfall sites, roughly half of the annual snowfall was sublimated to the atmosphere from intercepted snow. A cold, wind-exposed site with higher annual snowfall had higher unloading rates, which reduced the relative amount of intercepted snow sublimation. In contrast, at a temperate-maritime site with high snowfall, nearly half of annual snowfall melted within the canopy and, combined with drip from this snowmelt, and melt-induced unloading, partitioned the most snowfall towards the ground of all four sites, despite the high initial interception efficiency. This research reveals variability in snowfall interception and intercepted snow ablation processes across diverse canopy densities and meteorological regimes, and shows that this variability has not been fully represented in existing models. New parameterisations of canopy snow mass and energy balance, addressing these limitations, were introduced to more explicitly represent the full range of snow interception processes. This new model provided more accurate simulations of intercepted snow load and subcanopy SWE across a broad range of climatic conditions and forest types and also improved process diagnosis, though further validation is required across a diverse range of sites.},\n\tlanguage = {en},\n\turldate = {2026-06-01},\n\tauthor = {Cebulski, Alex C.},\n\tyear = {2026},\n\tkeywords = {NALCMS},\n}\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","author_short":["Cebulski, A. 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