Soil-water freezing, snow accumulation and ablation in Marmot Creek Experimental Watershed, Alberta, Canada

Research procedures to study flow of soil water through alternate freezing and thawing temperatures are described. Freezing commences in late November or December and persists through march to as late as mid-May or early June. During ablation of the snowpack, soil-water storage remained relatively constant at the pre-freezing level although below field capacity. Transmission of snowmelt through the soil profile to the ground-water flow system was shown to be theoretically possible and evidence presented indicating that this occurred. The major period of soil-water recharge occurred from spring rains subsequent to the disappearance of the snowpack.