Evaluating the Utah Energy Balance (UEB) snow model in the Noah land-surface model

Sultana, Rebeka; Hsu, Kuolin; Li, J.; Sorooshian, Soroosh

doi:10.5194/hess-18-3553-2014

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Comparison between measured and predicted SWE was similar to previous studies (Marks, Domingo, Susong, et al, ; Sultana, Hsu, Li, & Sorooshian, ). However, model performance at the Prairie site was ranked unsatisfactory.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…This station is at the lowest elevation and lies at the lower fringe of the snow transition zone. For instance, Sultana et al () reported model performance with very low NSC (ranged from 0.1 to 0.9) and high RSR (ranged from 0.28 to 0.86) over 21 SNOTEL sites in California that were mainly located at the rain–snow transition zone (elevation range of 1,500–2,900 m). Mismatch between estimated and observed SWE is due to the following reasons.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Role of temporal resolution of meteorological inputs for process‐based snow modelling

Sohrabi

Tonina

Benjankar

et al. 2018

Hydrological Processes

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Accurate snow accumulation and melt simulations are crucial for understanding and predicting hydrological dynamics in mountainous settings. As snow models require temporally varying meteorological inputs, time resolution of these inputs is likely to play an important role on the model accuracy. Because meteorological data at a fine temporal resolution (~1 hr) are generally not available in many snow‐dominated settings, it is important to evaluate the role of meteorological inputs temporal resolution on the performance of process‐based snow models. The objective of this work is to assess the loss in model accuracy with temporal resolution of meteorological inputs, for a range of climatic conditions and topographic elevations. To this end, a process‐based snow model was run using 1‐, 3‐, and 6‐hourly inputs for wet, average, and dry years over Boise River Basin (6,963 km2), which spans rain dominated (≤1,400 m), rain–snow transition (>1,400 and ≤1,900 m), snow dominated below tree line (>1,900 and ≤2,400 m), and above tree line (>2,400 m) elevations. The results show that sensitivity of the model accuracy to the inputs time step generally decreases with increasing elevation from rain dominated to snow dominated above tree line. Using longer than hourly inputs causes substantial underestimation of snow cover area (SCA) and snow water equivalent (SWE) in rain‐dominated and rain–snow transition elevations, due to the precipitation phase mischaracterization. In snow‐dominated elevations, the melt rate is underestimated due to errors in estimation of net snow cover energy input. In addition, the errors in SCA and SWE estimates generally decrease toward years with low snow mass, that is, dry years. The results indicate significant increases in errors in estimates of SCA and SWE as the temporal resolution of meteorological inputs becomes coarser than an hour. However, use of 3‐hourly inputs can provide accurate estimates at snow‐dominated elevations. The study underscores the need to record meteorological variables at an hourly time step for accurate process‐based snow modelling.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of temporal resolution of meteorological inputs for process‐based snow modelling

Sohrabi

Tonina

Benjankar

et al. 2018

Hydrological Processes

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“…The corresponding temperature at 10 m depth is at the freezing point and shows no clear trend. ERT is increasingly used in operational permafrost monitoring networks to determine longterm changes in permafrost ice content (Hilbich et al, 2008b(Hilbich et al, , 2011Supper et al, 2014;Doetsch et al, 2015;Pogliotti et al, 2015).…”

Section: Observed Changes In Permafrost and In Rock-glacier Flow Velomentioning

confidence: 99%

The European mountain cryosphere: a review of its current state, trends, and future challenges

et al. 2018

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Abstract. The mountain cryosphere of mainland Europe is recognized to have important impacts on a range of environmental processes. In this paper, we provide an overview on the current knowledge on snow, glacier, and permafrost processes, as well as their past, current, and future evolution. We additionally provide an assessment of current cryosphere research in Europe and point to the different domains requiring further research. Emphasis is given to our understanding of climate–cryosphere interactions, cryosphere controls on physical and biological mountain systems, and related impacts. By the end of the century, Europe's mountain cryosphere will have changed to an extent that will impact the landscape, the hydrological regimes, the water resources, and the infrastructure. The impacts will not remain confined to the mountain area but also affect the downstream lowlands, entailing a wide range of socioeconomical consequences. European mountains will have a completely different visual appearance, in which low- and mid-range-altitude glaciers will have disappeared and even large valley glaciers will have experienced significant retreat and mass loss. Due to increased air temperatures and related shifts from solid to liquid precipitation, seasonal snow lines will be found at much higher altitudes, and the snow season will be much shorter than today. These changes in snow and ice melt will cause a shift in the timing of discharge maxima, as well as a transition of runoff regimes from glacial to nival and from nival to pluvial. This will entail significant impacts on the seasonality of high-altitude water availability, with consequences for water storage and management in reservoirs for drinking water, irrigation, and hydropower production. Whereas an upward shift of the tree line and expansion of vegetation can be expected into current periglacial areas, the disappearance of permafrost at lower altitudes and its warming at higher elevations will likely result in mass movements and process chains beyond historical experience. Future cryospheric research has the responsibility not only to foster awareness of these expected changes and to develop targeted strategies to precisely quantify their magnitude and rate of occurrence but also to help in the development of approaches to adapt to these changes and to mitigate their consequences. Major joint efforts are required in the domain of cryospheric monitoring, which will require coordination in terms of data availability and quality. In particular, we recognize the quantification of high-altitude precipitation as a key source of uncertainty in projections of future changes. Improvements in numerical modeling and a better understanding of process chains affecting high-altitude mass movements are the two further fields that – in our view – future cryospheric research should focus on.

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“…Current numerical weather prediction systems generally use single-layer snow schemes (IFS documentation, 2016;GFS documentation, 2016). Only in some cases do they explicitly represent the liquid water content within the snowpack, or 15 do they incorporate a refined formulation for snow albedo variability (Dutra et al, 2010;Sultana et al, 2014). Climate models generally resolve the diurnal and seasonal variations of surface snow processes (i.e.…”

Section: Modeling Issues: Spatial Resolution and Physical Processes Imentioning

confidence: 99%

The European mountain cryosphere: A review of past, current and future issues

Beniston

Farinotti

Stoffel

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Abstract. The mountain cryosphere is recognized to have important impacts on a range of environmental processes. This 30 paper reviews current knowledge on snow, glacier, and permafrost processes, as well as their past, current and future The Cryosphere Discuss., doi:10.5194/tc-2016Discuss., doi:10.5194/tc- -290, 2017 Manuscript under review for journal The Cryosphere Published: 9 January 2017 c Author(s) 2017. CC-BY 3.0 License. 2 evolution in mountain regions in mainland Europe. We provide a comprehensive assessment of the current state of cryosphere research in Europe and point to the different domains requiring further research to improve our understanding of climate-cryosphere interactions, cryosphere controls on physical and biological mountain systems, as well as related impacts.We highlight advances in the modeling of the cryosphere, and identify inherent uncertainties in our capability of projecting changes in the context of a warming global climate. 5

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Evaluating the Utah Energy Balance (UEB) snow model in the Noah land-surface model

Cited by 17 publications

References 55 publications

Role of temporal resolution of meteorological inputs for process‐based snow modelling

Role of temporal resolution of meteorological inputs for process‐based snow modelling

The European mountain cryosphere: a review of its current state, trends, and future challenges

The European mountain cryosphere: A review of past, current and future issues

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