Large moss such as
Boulaya mittenii growing on the trunk of beech trees freezes and adheres to the snow cover around the trunk. During the early snow-melting season a ready ablation of the moss from the trunk occurs with the settlement of snow. Thus, the snow depth in remote regions can be estimated from the height of the moss adherence.
From surveys at Tateyama in Toyama prefecture and at Yudonosan in Yamagata prefecture, it was verified that the height
H of the lowest edge of
Boulaya mittenii was approximately equal to 0.80.9 of the absolute maximum depth of snow
Hmax in 10 years, or H
max was equal to 1.11.2
H.
View full abstract