Density of Seasonal Snow in the Mountainous Environment of Five Slovak Ski Centers

Abstract

Climate change affects snowpack properties indirectly through the greater need for artificial snow production for ski centers. The seasonal snowpacks at five ski centers in Central Slovakia were examined over the course of three winter seasons to identify and compare the seasonal development and inter-seasonal and spatial variability of depth average snow density of ski piste snow and uncompacted natural snow. The spatial variability in the ski piste snow density was analyzed in relation to the snow depth and snow lances at the Košútka ski center using GIS. A special snow tube for high-density snowpack sampling was developed (named the MM snow tube) and tested against the commonly used VS-43 snow tube. Measurements showed that the MM snow tube was constructed appropriately and had comparable precision. Significant differences in mean snow density were identified for the studied snow types. The similar rates of increase for the densities of the ski piste snow and uncompacted natural snow suggested that the key density differences stem from the artificial (machine-made) versus natural snow versus processes after and not densification due to snow grooming machines and skiers, which was relevant only for ski piste snow. The ski piste snow density increased on slope with decreasing snow depth (18 kg/m³ per each 10 cm), while snow depth decreased 2 cm per each meter from the center of snow lances. Mean three seasons maximal measured density of ski piste snow was 917 ± 58 kg/m³ the density of ice. This study increases the understanding of the snowpack development processes in a manipulated mountainous environment through examinations of temporal and spatial variability in snow densities and an investigation into the development of natural and ski piste snow densities over the winter season.

Impact of Natural Hazards on Forest Ecosystems and Their Surrounding Landscape under Climate Change

“…The last paper in this section ("Hydrological and atmospheric aspects of natural hazards in changing climate and environment") deals with the density of seasonal snow in the mountainous environment of five Slovak ski centers (Mikloš et al) [5]. Climate change increases the role of artificial snow due to winter mountain tourism.…”

“…The Special Issue we introduce consists of 11 original research papers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] divided into three groups based on research interests, namely, 1. hydrological and atmospheric aspects of natural hazards in changing climate and environment, 2. ecophysiological and ecological water-related impacts of natural hazards, and 3. methodological approaches in natural hazard evaluation.…”

Interactions of natural and anthropogenic drivers and hydrological processes on local and regional scales: A review of main results of Slovak hydrology from 2019 to 2022

“…Ways were explored how to constrain the parameters of the snowmelt components of an HBV-type model and improve its performance (Sleziak et al, 2020). Studies focusing on the distribution of snow cover in the forests and ski slopes in Central Slovakia were also conducted, and implications for ecosystem services were defined (Mikloš et al, 2020a;Mikloš et al, 2020b).…”

Optimal Period for Winter Mountain Tourism in Romania

“…A common solution to compensate the lack of natural snow is the classic use of artificial snow. However, the efficiency of snowmaking is difficult to characterize in a unified way and there are currently multiple concerns for its optimization [7][8][9] and multiple contradictions as well. Snowmaking could be a risk factor for the environment due to high water consumption, which has been analyzed in mountain resorts in France and Switzerland.…”