Snowpack changes around a nickel-copper smelter at Monchegorsk, northwestern Russia

Snow depth in industrial barrens adjacent to the nickel-copper smelter at Monchegorsk (Kola peninsula, northwestern Russia) by the end of the winter was reduced to one-third of the depth observed in weakened and healthy forests located 30-65 km from the smelter; this reduction was due to both decline (by one-half) in the amount (mass) of snow and increase in snow density. Since winter precipitation in Monchegorsk was about the same as in an unpolluted locality 56 km south-southwest of the smelter, and snowpack characteristics correlated with site-specific wind speed, the low amount of snow around the smelter is presumably due to snow movement from open windy habitats and enhanced snow evaporation during the wind transport; higher snow densities may be explained by wind-induced compaction of snow particles. Pollution affects snowpack characteristics by modifying wind regime via forest damage; in turn, decline in snow depth influence the growth form and (possibly) performance of trees that managed to survive in heavily polluted habitats. Thus, initial (partially pollution-induced) forest disturbance, through secondary effects, may enhance further disturbance in a positive feedback fashion; therefore, possible ecological effects of pollution-related snowpack changes should be accounted for in field studies conducted along pollution gradients within the forest zone.