Tour of the Loch Vale Watershed

On October 16, I was able to join a group of scientists (mostly from the USGS) to tour the Loch Vale watershed, located in Rocky Mountain National Park. We entered Rocky Mountain National Park shortly after 9:00 in the morning and headed into the watershed with our hiking gear. The weather was perfect--cloudy, windy, and chilly at the higher elevations, but a crisp clear day at the start.

Our destination was a weather station located high up in the watershed, just below a couple of glaciers. During the hike, our tour guides, Jill Barron and Don Campbell, shared information with us, such as the ecology of the area and the importance of measuring weather in the watershed. We ate lunch sitting on snow surrounding the weather station and headed back down to the cars by 4:00 in the afternoon.

Unfortunately, we did not get to see the new sublimation measurement site that has been erected in the watershed. Sublimation will be a very important part of my research, and I was looking forward to seeing one and taking a picture. Sublimation is similar to evaporation: Rains or lakes can evaporate into a water vapor gas in the air. But snow (which is too cold to first melt into water) can sublimate into a water vapor gas. Mountain snow is a very precious commodity--it is how most of us on the front range get our drinking water. But researchers have found that we're not getting as much water as the amount of snow in the mountains indicates we should get. Many scientists believe that this is due to sublimation. However, without proper measurements, it is impossible to know for sure how much the mountains lose from sublimation each season.

This is why the sublimation measurement site at the Loch Vale watershed (and other locations in the mountains) are so important. With the data that are collected, scientists will be able to determine the exact effects of wind, solar radiation, dust on snow and other factors have on snow sublimation.

Below I have posted a slideshow of images from my tour of the Loch Vale watershed. And many thanks to those at the USGS who led this tour and provided much valuable information!