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www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/5/3129/2008/
doi:10.5194/hessd-5-3129-2008
© Author(s) 2008. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Assessing snow water equivalent of an Alpine catchment using snow dynamic model calibrated with satellite images
1Politecnico of Milan, Milan, Italy
2Pirelli Ambiente Site Remediation, Milan, Italy
Abstract. This paper presents a simplified numerical model of snow dynamic implemented into a continuous distributed hydrological model for hydrograph simulations at basin scale. This snow model is based on air temperature thresholds that rule the snow melt and accumulation processes.
A procedure to calibrate these temperature thresholds from NOAA satellite snow cover maps is discussed. We show that, for an accurate model calibration from satellite images, it is necessary to consider the presence of areas with complex topography such as mountain slopes.
Snow model performance is tested both at local and basin scale on Alpine catchment. At local scale a good agreement between modelled snow dynamic and observed snow height data at snow gauge stations in the river Anza basin (Italy) is shown; at basin scale agreement between observed and simulated hydrographs at the discharge station of river Toce (Italy) is reported.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 940 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 6 Comments) Final Revised Paper (HESS)
Citation: Corbari, C., Ravazzani, G., Martinelli, J., and Mancini, M.: Assessing snow water equivalent of an Alpine catchment using snow dynamic model calibrated with satellite images, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 5, 3129-3156, doi:10.5194/hessd-5-3129-2008, 2008. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
