Snowmelt acidic shock study in South Central Ontario

A two part project to study snowmelt acidic shock potential in south central Ontario has been undertaken by the Atmospheric Environment Service. One part involved development of a snowmelt acidic shock model suitable for application to specific basins to provide time series of snowmelt rate, snowpack and melt water chemistry. The U.S. National Weather Service River Forecast System's conceptual snowmelt algorithm (HYDRO-17) was chosen as the basis for the snowmelt acidic shock model. Routines to handle the acid concentration in the snowpack and melt water have been incorporated into the model. The second part of this project involved a field study to collect data on melt rate, snowpack and melt water chemistry for model development and verification. Two 3 × 3 m snowmelt lysimeters were constructed for this purpose at Dorset, Ontario. An overview of the project is presented along with descriptions of the acidic snowmelt model, the field experimental design and discussion of the results from two field seasons.