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Simulation of snow accumulation and melt in needleleaf forest environments
Centre for Hydrology, University of Saskatchewan, 117 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 5C8, Canada
Abstract. Drawing upon numerous field studies and modelling exercises of snow processes, the Cold Regions Hydrological Model (CRHM) was developed to simulate the four season hydrological cycle in cold regions. CRHM includes modules describing radiative, turbulent and conductive energy exchanges to snow in forest and open environments, as well as provide account for losses from canopy snow sublimation and rain evaporation. Due to the physical-basis and rigorous testing of each module, there is a minimal need for model calibration. To evaluate CRHM, simulations of snow accumulation and melt were compared to observations collected at paired forest and clearing sites of varying latitude, elevation, forest cover density, and climate. Overall, results show that CRHM is capable of characterising the variation of snow accumulation between forest and open sites, achieving a model efficiency of 0.57, with the lowest efficiencies at the forest sites. Simulations of canopy sublimation losses slightly overestimated observed losses from a weighed cut tree, giving a model efficiency of 0.41 for daily losses. Good model performance was demonstrated in simulating energy fluxes to snow at the clearings, but performance was degraded from this under forest canopies due to errors in simulating daily net longwave radiation. However, expressed as cumulative energy to snow over the winter, simulated values were 96% and 98% of that observed at forest and clearing sites, respectively. Overall, good model prediction of the substantial variations in mass and energy between forest and clearing sites suggests that CRHM may be useful as an analytical or predictive tool for snow processes in needleleaf forests.
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Citation: Ellis, C. R., Pomeroy, J. W., Brown, T., and MacDonald, J.: Simulation of snow accumulation and melt in needleleaf forest environments, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 7, 1033-1072, 2010. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager
