GGD652
Rock-Ice Feature Inventory for the Sierra Nevada, California, USA
Millar C. and R. Westfall
Rock-Ice Feature Inventory for the Sierra Nevada, California, USA
2009-02-06
Boulder, Colorado USA
NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center
http://nsidc.org/data/ggd652.html
Investigator
Constance
Millar
cmillar@fs.fed.us
1 510 559 6435
1 510 559 6440
USDA Forest Service
Pacific Southwest Research Station
P.O. Box 245
Berkeley
CA
94701
USA
Investigator
Robert
Westfall
USDA Forest Service
Pacific Southwest Research Station
P.O. Box 245
Berkeley
CA
94701
EARTH SCIENCE
Cryosphere
Frozen Ground
Rock Glaciers
EARTH SCIENCE
Land Surface
Frozen Ground
Rock Glaciers
complete
34.5
38.8
-119.9
-118.2
2225 meters
3932 meters
CONTINENT
NORTH AMERICA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CALIFORNIA
SIERRA NEVADA
English
NSIDC_FGDC
NSIDC
National Snow and Ice Data Center
http://nsidc.org
Data Center Contact
NSIDC
User Services
nsidc@nsidc.org
1 303 492-6199
1 303 492-2468
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
Boulder
CO
80309-0449
USA
NSIDC_FGDC
NSIDC Frozen Ground Data Center
http://nsidc.org/fgdc/
Data Center Contact
NSIDC FGDC
User Services
nsidc@nsidc.org
1 303 492-6199
1 303 492-2468
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
Boulder
CO
80309-0449
USA
FTP
36 KB
ASCII Text
Daly, C., Neilson, R.P., Phillips, D.L. 1994. A statistical-topographic model for mapping climatological precipitation over mountainous terrain. Journal of Applied Meteorology 33:140158.
Millar, C. I., and R. D. Westfall. 2008. Rock glaciers and related periglacial landforms in the Sierra Nevada, CA, USA; inventory, distribution and climatic relationships. Quaternary International 188:90-104.
The Sierra Nevada is a tectonic uplift mountain range with a gradual gain in elevation on the west side and a steep escarpment on the east. Most of the mapped locations are east of the Sierran crest. The climate in the region is Mediterranean, with most of the precipitation in the winter months coming as snow at high elevations, but with some monsoonal precipitation in the summer, particularly in the southern end of the range. There is a very steep gradient in decreasing precipitation eastward from the Sierran crest as a result of rain-shadow orographic effects from the predominately eastward-moving Pacific frontal storms. PRISM-estimated (Daly et al. 1994) annual precipitation for the RIF locations ranged from 580 to 1880 mm; July precipitation from 5 to 33 mm. Mean annual maximum temperatures ranged from 1.8 to 15.2 oC, January from -5.7 to 6.2 oC, and July from 11 to 26.3 oC. Mean annual minima ranged from -8.1 to -0.4 oC, January from -15 to -7 oC, and July from 1.2 to 8.9 oC. The highest temperatures and lowest precipitation were largely at relict Pleistocene rock glaciers, which tended to be farthest east of the Sierran crest and lower in elevation. We mapped over 430 RIFs, based on field surveys and grouped them into six classes based on morphology and location. These categories constitute a greater range of frozen-ground features than are commonly described in rock-glacier surveys. Although granitic substrates dominate the Sierra Nevada, they do not in the eastern escarpment, so substrates in the RIF database are about equally divided between granitic and metamorphic. Ages of rock glaciers ranged from current (active) to relict (late Pleistocene). We interpreted the presence of outlet springs, basal lakes, suspended silt in outlet streams, and fringing phreatophytic vegetation, in addition to morphologic indications of current rock movement, as evidence for interstitial ice, either persistent or seasonal.
<br>One comma-delimited ASCII file containing information for 430 rock-ice features is available.
CEOS IDN DIF
9.7
2009-02-06
2012-08-28
Added an archiving data center.