Heat and moisture fluxes in the Cold Land Processes Experiment are measured with three levels of eddy correlation instrumentation on a 20-m tower and one level on two additional towers over sage and grasslands with partial or complete snow cover. The protruding sage community is characterized by low albedo with low winter sun angles, even with complete ground snow cover, leading to substantial sensible heat flux to the atmosphere. The heat flux from patches of sage leads to substantial warming of the air, even when the sensible heat flux to the atmosphere is near zero over adjacent snow-covered grasslands.

Patches of sage collect blowing snow and efficiently melt the captured snow on sunny days. In contrast, over snow-covered grasslands, stable stratification may develop with melting snow, supressing evaporation and vertical transfer of water vapor from the snow surface.