A Spatially Distributed Energy Balance Snowmelt Model

This paper describes an energy balance snowmelt model developed for the prediction of rapid snowmelt rates responsible for soil erosion and water input to a distributed water balance model. The model uses a lumped representation of the snowpack with two primary state variables, namely, water equivalence and energy content relative to a reference state of water in the ice phase at 0oC. This energy content is used to determine snowpack average temperature or liquid fraction. This representation of the snowpack is used in a distributed version of the model with each of these state variables modeled at each point on a rectangular grid corresponding to a digital elevation model. Inputs are air temperature, precipitation, wind speed, humidity and radiation at hourly time steps. The model uses physically-based calculations of radiative, sensible, latent and advective heat exchanges. An equilibrium parameterization of snow surface temperature accounts for differences between snow surface temperature and average snowpack temperature without having to introduce additional state variables. Melt outflow is a function of the liquid fraction, using Darcy's law. This allows the model to account for continued outflow even when the energy balance is negative. A detailed description of the model is given together with results of tests against data collected at the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory, California; Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed, Boise Idaho; and at the Utah State University drainage and evapotranspiration research farm, Logan Utah. The testing includes comparisons against melt outflow collected in melt lysimeters, surface snow temperatures collected using infrared temperature sensors and depth and water equivalence measured using snow core samplers.

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