Impact of land-use changes on snow in a forested region with heavy snowfall in Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract

We simulated snow processes in a forested region with heavy snowfall in Japan, and evaluated both the regional-scale snow distribution and the potential impact of land-use changes on the snow cover and water balances over the entire domain. SnowModel reproduced the snow processes at open and forested sites, which were confirmed by snow water equivalent (SWE) measurements at two intensive observation sites and snow depth measurements at the Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System sites. SnowModel also reproduced the observed snow distribution (from the MODIS snow cover data) over the simulation domain during thaw. The observed SWE was less at the forested site than at the open site. The SnowModel simulations showed that this difference was caused mainly by differences in sublimation. The type of land use changed the maximum SWE, onset and duration of snowmelt, and the daily snowmelt rate due to canopy snow interception.Key words deforestation; canopy snow interception; sublimation; snowmelt rate; turbulent flux Impact de changements d'occupation du sol sur la neige dans une région forestière fortement enneigée de Hokkaido, Japon Résumé Nous avons simulé les processus neigeux dans une région forestière fortement enneigée au Japon, et évalué à la fois la répartition de la neige à l'échelle régionale et l'impact potentiel des changements d'occupation du sol sur le couvert neigeux et sur le bilan hydrologique pour l'ensemble du domaine. SnowModel reproduit les processus neigeux dans les sites ouverts et forestiers, ce qui est confirmé par des mesures d'équivalent en eau de la neige en deux sites d'observation intensive et des mesures de la profondeur de la neige sur les sites du système automatique d'acquisition de données météorologiques. SnowModel reproduit également la distribution de la neige observée (à partir de données MODIS de couvert neigeux) sur le domaine de la simulation au cours de la fonte nivale. L'équivalent en eau de la neige observé est inférieur pour le site forestier que pour le site ouvert. Les simulations avec SnowModel montrent que cette différence est principalement causée par des différences en matière de sublimation. Le type d'occupation du sol change l'équivalent en eau de la neige maximum, le début et la durée de la fonte nivale, et le taux de fonte journalier en raison de l'interception de la neige par la canopée.

Canopy effects on snow sublimation from a central Arizona Basin

“…Spatially distributed modeling studies in complex terrain [ Strasser et al ., ; Suzuki et al ., ; Bernhardt et al ., ; Groot Zwaaftink et al ., ] find blowing snow sublimation to be a significant contribution to the seasonal water budget for isolated portions of alpine areas, although a notably smaller contribution than ground sublimation over broader areas [e.g., Groot Zwaaftink et al ., ]. However, if the watershed is predominately not alpine, blowing snow sublimation has been found to be a small contribution to the water budget by these studies, e.g., 0.2%–4.1% of total snowfall [ Strasser et al ., ; Suzuki et al ., ; Bernhardt et al ., ; Groot Zwaaftink et al ., ]. Therefore, blowing snow sublimation is not considered in this study.…”

The Andes Cordillera. Part I: snow distribution, properties, and trends (1979–2014)

“…SnowModel has previously been tested with success in Arctic, Antarctic, and in high mountain regions comparing simulated snow accumulation, distribution, and ablation processes with observations (e.g. Hiemstra et al, 2002Hiemstra et al, , 2006Hasholt et al, 2003;Bruland et al, 2004;Mernild et al, 2007Mernild et al, , 2008Mernild et al, , 2009Mernild et al, , 2014Hiemstra, 2008, 2011a;Suzuki et al, 2011Suzuki et al, , 2015. For applied and detailed information about SnowModel see, e.g.…”

The Andes Cordillera. Part II: Rio Olivares Basin snow conditions (1979–2014), central Chile

“…SnowModel is an aggregation of six submodels: MicroMet (is a quasi-physically based, high-resolution meteorological distribution model; Liston and Elder, 2006b), Enbal (calculates surface energy exchanges; Liston, 1995;Liston et al, 1999), SnowTran-3D [accounts for snow redistribution by wind (not used in this study, since blowing snow does not typically move across 4-km grid cells into adjacent cells); Liston andSturm, 1998, 2002;Liston et al, 2007], SnowPack-ML (simulates the role of surface meltwater percolating into, and refreezing within, snow and firn layers that contribute significantly to the evolution of snow and ice densities and moisture available for runoff; Liston and Mernild, 2012), HydroFlow [links runoff production from land-based snowmelt and ice melt processes to downstream areas based on a gridded, linear-reservoir routing model (not used in this study); Liston and Mernild, 2012;Mernild and Liston, 2012], and SnowAssim (is a model available to assimilate field observed data sets; Liston and Hiemstra, 2008). Snow-Model tests have been conducted by comparing simulated snow accumulation, distribution, and ablation processes with direct observations (Hiemstra et al, 2002(Hiemstra et al, , 2006Mernild et al, 2007Mernild et al, , 2008Mernild et al, , 2009Mernild et al, , 2014Mernild and Liston, 2010;Liston andHiemstra, 2008, 2011;Suzuki et al, 2011Suzuki et al, , 2015. Hence, this gives us confidence that, assuming the MERRA forcing data are appropriate, simulated snow fields will provide a reasonable representation of the actual conditions in nature at the spatial resolution afforded by model data inputs.…”