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  4. A seasonal snowpack model forced with dynamically downscaled forcing data resolves hydrologically relevant accumulation patterns
 
research article

A seasonal snowpack model forced with dynamically downscaled forcing data resolves hydrologically relevant accumulation patterns

Berg, Justine
•
Reynolds, Dylan
•
Queno, Louis
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June 4, 2024
Frontiers In Earth Science

The Mountain snowpack stores months of winter precipitation at high elevations, supplying snowmelt to lowland areas in drier seasons for agriculture and human consumption worldwide. Accurate seasonal predictions of the snowpack are thus of great importance, but such forecasts suffer from major challenges such as resolving interactions between forcing variables at high spatial resolutions. To test novel approaches to resolve these processes, seasonal snowpack simulations are run at different grid resolutions (50 m, 100 m, 250 m) and with variable forcing data for the water year 2016/2017. COSMO-1E data is either dynamically downscaled with the High-resolution Intermediate Complexity Atmospheric Research (HICAR) model or statistically downscaled to provide forcing data for snowpack simulations with the Flexible Snowpack Model (FSM2oshd). Simulations covering complex terrain in the Swiss Alps are carried out with the operational settings of the FSM2oshd model or with a model extension including wind- and gravitational-induced snow transport (FSM2trans). The simulated snow height is evaluated against observed snow height collected during LiDAR flights in spring 2017. Observed spatial snow accumulation patterns and snow height distribution are best matched with simulations using dynamically downscaled data and the FSM2trans model extension, indicating the importance of both accurate meteorological forcing data and snow transport schemes. This study demonstrates for the first time the effects of applying dynamical downscaling schemes to snowpack simulations at the seasonal and catchment scale.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.3389/feart.2024.1393260
Web of Science ID

WOS:001248664100001

Author(s)
Berg, Justine
Reynolds, Dylan
Queno, Louis
Jonas, Tobias
Lehning, Michael  
Mott, Rebecca
Date Issued

2024-06-04

Publisher

Frontiers Media Sa

Published in
Frontiers In Earth Science
Volume

12

Article Number

1393260

Subjects

Physical Sciences

•

Dynamical Downscaling

•

Complex Topography

•

Snow-Atmosphere Interactions

•

Snow Processes

•

Snow Hydrology

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
CLIMACT-GE  
FunderGrant Number

Swiss National Science Foundation

188554

Swiss National Supercomputing Center (CSCS)

s1148

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL)

Available on Infoscience
July 3, 2024
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/209088
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