www.nature.com/scientificreports
OPEN
received: 15 November 2015 accepted: 20 June 2016 Published: 12 July 2016
Deciduous trees are a large and overlooked sink for snowmelt water in the boreal forest Jessica M. Young-Robertson1,2, W. Robert Bolton2, Uma S. Bhatt3, Jordi Cristóbal4 & Richard Thoman5 The terrestrial water cycle contains large uncertainties that impact our understanding of water budgets and climate dynamics. Water storage is a key uncertainty in the boreal water budget, with tree water storage often ignored. The goal of this study is to quantify tree water content during the snowmelt and growing season periods for Alaskan and western Canadian boreal forests. Deciduous trees reached saturation between snowmelt and leaf-out, taking up 21–25% of the available snowmelt water, while coniferous trees removed
OPEN
received: 15 November 2015 accepted: 20 June 2016 Published: 12 July 2016
Deciduous trees are a large and overlooked sink for snowmelt water in the boreal forest Jessica M. Young-Robertson1,2, W. Robert Bolton2, Uma S. Bhatt3, Jordi Cristóbal4 & Richard Thoman5 The terrestrial water cycle contains large uncertainties that impact our understanding of water budgets and climate dynamics. Water storage is a key uncertainty in the boreal water budget, with tree water storage often ignored. The goal of this study is to quantify tree water content during the snowmelt and growing season periods for Alaskan and western Canadian boreal forests. Deciduous trees reached saturation between snowmelt and leaf-out, taking up 21–25% of the available snowmelt water, while coniferous trees removed
