Modeling Winter Precipitation Over the Juneau Icefield, Alaska, Using a Linear Model of Orographic Precipitation

Roth, Aurora; Hock, Regine; Schuler, Thomas; Bieniek, Peter A.; Pelto, Mauri; Aschwanden, Andy

doi:10.3389/feart.2018.00020

Cited by 20 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…There are different approaches to investigate winter precipitation over complex topography. Simple, though based on physical principles, the linear theory model (Smith and Barstad 2004) represents certain aspects of orographic precipitation over complex terrain (Roth et al 2018). The linear theory model, as well as numerical weather prediction models, is usually used at horizontal grid spacings of $1 km for precipitation studies (e.g., Richard et al 2007;Rasmussen et al 2011;Pontoppidan et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Near-Surface Winter Precipitation Processes in Complex Alpine Terrain

Gerber

Mott

Lehning

2019

Journal of Hydrometeorology

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In this study, near-surface snow and graupel dynamics from formation to deposition are analyzed using WRF in a large-eddy configuration. The results reveal that a horizontal grid spacing of ≤50 m is required to resolve local orographic precipitation enhancement, leeside flow separation, and thereby preferential deposition. At this resolution, precipitation patterns across mountain ridges show a high temporal and spatial variability. Simulated and observed event-mean snow precipitation across three mountain ridges in the upper Dischma valley (Davos, Switzerland) for two precipitation events show distinct patterns, which are in agreement with theoretical concepts, such as small-scale orographic precipitation enhancement or preferential deposition. We found for our case study that overall terrain–flow–precipitation interactions increase snow accumulation on the leeward side of mountain ridges by approximately 26%–28% with respect to snow accumulation on the windward side of the ridge. Cloud dynamics and mean advection may locally increase precipitation on the leeward side of the ridge by up to about 20% with respect to event-mean precipitation across a mountain ridge. Analogously, near-surface particle–flow interactions, that is, preferential deposition, may locally enhance leeward snow precipitation on the order of 10%. We further found that overall effect and relative importance of terrain–flow–precipitation interactions are strongly dependent on atmospheric humidity and stability. Weak dynamic stability is important for graupel production, which is an essential component of solid winter precipitation. A comparison to smoothed measurements of snow depth change reveals a certain agreement with simulated precipitation across mountain ridges.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Near-Surface Winter Precipitation Processes in Complex Alpine Terrain

Gerber

Mott

Lehning

2019

Journal of Hydrometeorology

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“…The relative error (RE) of total precipitation is 7.5%. There are many factors affecting precipitation in mountainous areas [22], and the result is comparatively reasonable. The results show that the precipitation increased by 1.6 mm•a −1 (p < 0.01) from 1959 to 2015 ( Figure 5).…”

Section: Station Informationmentioning

confidence: 91%

Simulation of Runoff and Glacier Mass Balance and Sensitivity Analysis in a Glacierized Basin, North-Eastern Qinhai-Tibetan Plateau, China

Zhang

Qin

et al. 2018

Water

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Glaciers have been recognized as the most sensitive indicators of climate change. Mountainous areas, with their characteristic snow and glacier cover, have long been recognized as special hydrological environments, receiving above-average amounts of precipitation. The streams originating in the mountains, nourished with distinct seasonal variations, provide water for the populations of the adjacent lowland. Little is known about the effect of climate change on snow and glacier hydrology and glacier mass balance in the Laohugou Glacier Basin (LHGB) over the past 50 years. A study of the glacier basin was performed to quantify the expected impact of climate change on the hydrology in the north-eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The DEM (Digital Elevation Model) data, daily temperature, daily precipitation, and evaporation data were applied to force the HBV (Hydrologiska Byrans Vattenbalansavdelning)-light conceptual model to simulate runoff depth and glacier mass balance in the historical period (1959–2015). A genetic calibration algorithm approach (GAP method) was used to obtain parameter sets that reproduced observed runoff depth well. The results suggested a drastic increase of the runoff depth from 1995 to 2015 in the Laohugou glacier basin driven by increased temperature. Temperature and precipitation increased by 0.40 °C (10a)−1 and 1.6 mm·a−1 (p < 0.01), respectively, at AWS1 (the automatic weather station at 4192 m a.s.l. near the hydrological station) in the LHGB from 1959 to 2015. The simulated runoff depth increased at 5.7 mm·a−1 (p < 0.01), the glacier mass balance (GMB) of the LHGB was −280.5 mm·a−1, and the overall glacier mass balance was −17.55 m w.e. from 1959 to 2015. The runoff is found to be more sensitive to the variation of temperature than the variation of precipitation. When the glacier area is decreased by 10%, 53%, and 100%, the peak runoff (July) decreased by 20.4%, 54.2%, and 72.3% relative to the baseline, respectively. In the future climate, the function of glaciers in compensating a potential low flow and regulating peak flow will be weakened in the critical months.

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“…They found that the ERA-40-based simulation yields an about 0.13 m w.e. higher mass balance than the one based on ERA-Interim, but ERA-40-based simulations still show a 0.2 m drop of mass balance between 1970 and 1990, larger Sand et al (2003). (b) Scatterplot comparing the 1999 measurements to winter precipitation according to Sval_Imp (crosses) and ERA-Interim (dots).…”

Section: Air Temperaturementioning

confidence: 94%

“…Field work at Austfonna has been supported by NFR through IPY-Glaciodyn, EU-ice2sea and ESA-CRYOVEX. Knut Sand provided access to the Sand et al (2003) dataset.…”

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confidence: 99%

Sval_Imp: a gridded forcing dataset for climate change impact research on Svalbard

Schuler

Østby

2020

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

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Abstract. We present Sval_Imp, a high-resolution gridded dataset designed for forcing models of terrestrial surface processes on Svalbard. The dataset is defined on a 1 km grid covering the archipelago of Svalbard, located in the Norwegian Arctic (74–82∘ N). Using a hybrid methodology, combining multidimensional interpolation with simple dynamical modeling, the atmospheric reanalyses ERA-40 and ERA-Interim by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting have been downscaled to cover the period 1957–2017 at steps of 6 h. The dataset is publicly available from a data repository. In this paper, we describe the methodology used to construct the dataset, present the organization of the data in the repository and discuss the performance of the downscaling procedure. In doing so, the dataset is compared to a wealth of data available from operational and project-based measurements. The quality of the downscaled dataset is found to vary in space and time, but it generally represents an improvement compared to unscaled values, especially for precipitation. Whereas operational records are biased to low elevations around the fringes, we stress the hitherto underused potential of project-based measurements at higher elevation and in the interior of the archipelago for evaluating atmospheric models. For instance, records of snow accumulation on large ice masses may represent measures of seasonally integrated precipitation in regions sensitive to the downscaling procedure and thus providing added value. Sval_Imp (Schuler, 2018) is publicly available from the Norwegian Research Data Archive NIRD, a data repository (https://doi.org/10.11582/2018.00006).

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Modeling Winter Precipitation Over the Juneau Icefield, Alaska, Using a Linear Model of Orographic Precipitation

Cited by 20 publications

References 56 publications

The Importance of Near-Surface Winter Precipitation Processes in Complex Alpine Terrain

The Importance of Near-Surface Winter Precipitation Processes in Complex Alpine Terrain

Simulation of Runoff and Glacier Mass Balance and Sensitivity Analysis in a Glacierized Basin, North-Eastern Qinhai-Tibetan Plateau, China

Sval_Imp: a gridded forcing dataset for climate change impact research on Svalbard

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