UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Influence of turbidity and aeration on the albedo of mountain streams McMahon, A.; Moore, R. Daniel

Abstract

Stream surface albedo plays a key role in the energy balance of rivers and streams that are exposed to direct solar radiation. Most physically based analyses and models have incorporated a constant stream albedo between 0.03 and 0.10, based primarily on measurements from low-gradient streams with low suspended sediment concentrations. However, albedo should vary with solar elevation angle, suspended sediment concentration, aeration, and fraction of direct vs diffuse radiation. The objective of this study was to quantify the dependence of albedo of mountain streams on the controlling factors and to develop a predictive model for use in physically based analysis and modelling of stream temperature, especially for future climate and land use scenarios. Stream surface albedo was measured at nine sites with a variety of gradients and suspended sediment characteristics in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. As expected, albedo of low-gradient, non-whitewater (flatwater) streams increased with solar zenith angle, suspended sediment concentration, and proportion of diffuse to direct solar radiation, ranging between 0.025 during cloudy periods over clear water to 0.25 for turbid water at zenith angles of less than 20 degrees. Albedo was enhanced in steep reaches or at channel steps and cascades where flow was visibly aerated, with a range of 0.09 to 0.33. In clear weather, albedo exhibited notable diurnal variability at flatwater sampling sites. For example, during late summer, surface albedo typically fluctuated between 0.08 and 0.15 on a daily basis at a flatwater site on the highly turbid, glacier-fed Lillooet River. Multiple regression models explained approximately 60% and 40% of the variance under cross validation for flatwater and whitewater data subsets, respectively, with corresponding root-mean-square errors of approximately 0.02 and 0.06.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International