Considerations in measurement of yield of snow packs in percolation water

Conclusions of a three year study of percolation of water through different soil depths towards the production of tree growth in the forests is presented. It is found that a large portion of the rainfall is evaporated from the bare soil, while there is greater possibility of increasing the deep percolation of melting snow water due to decrease[d] evaporation and slow melting. There is greater percolation of rain water when storms are frequent, say at weekly intervals, than large storms that cause considerable surface runoff. Field instrumentation: rectangular tanks with sloping bottoms, 4 to 36 deep and filled with soil so arranged so that the percolated water could be measured, in conjunction with standard rain gages etc. Provisions were made to measure the surficial runoff and evaporation losses. A table of resulting data is shown. Reference is made to similar studies by O.J. Aderkas and Fueltes Heft. Questions are listed relative to possible instruments for determining the evaporation losses from snow surfaces.