Effect of meteorological forcing and snow model complexity on hydrological simulations in the Sieber catchment (Harz Mountains, Germany)

Detailed physically based snow models using energy balance approaches are spatially and temporally transferable and hence regarded as particularly suited for scenario applications including changing climate or land use. However, these snow models place high demands on meteorological input data at the model scale. Besides precipitation and temperature, time series of humidity, wind speed, and radiation have to be provided. In many catchments these time series are rarely available or provided by a few meteorological stations only. This study analyzes the effect of improved meteorological input on the results of four snow models with different complexity for the Sieber catchment (44.4 km 2 ) in the Harz Mountains, Germany. The Weather Research and Forecast model (WRF) is applied to derive spatial and temporal fields of meteorological surface variables at hourly temporal resolution for a regular grid of 1.1 km × 1.1 km. All snow models are evaluated at the point and the catchment scale. For catchment-scale simulations, all snow models were integrated into the hydrological modeling system PANTA RHEI. The model results achieved with a simple temperature-index model using observed precipitation and temperature time series as input are compared to those achieved with WRF input. Due to a mismatch between modeled and observed precipitation, the observed melt runoff as provided by a snow lysimeter and the observed streamflow are better reproduced by application of observed meteorological input data. In total, precipitation is simulated statistically reasonably at the seasonal scale but some single precipitation events are not captured by the WRF data set. Regarding the model efficiencies achieved for all simulations using WRF data, energy balance approaches generally perform similarly compared to the temperature-index approach and partially outperform the latter.

[1]  Harald Kunstmann,et al.  High resolution distributed atmospheric-hydrological modelling for Alpine catchments , 2005 .

[2]  Kelly Elder,et al.  A Distributed Snow-Evolution Modeling System (SnowModel) , 2004 .

[3]  H. Kunstmann,et al.  Performance of complex snow cover descriptions in a distributed hydrological model system: A case study for the high Alpine terrain of the Berchtesgaden Alps , 2013, Water resources research.

[4]  Max P. Bleiweiss,et al.  Alternative climate data sources for distributed hydrological modelling on a daily time step , 2011 .

[5]  E. Mlawer,et al.  Radiative transfer for inhomogeneous atmospheres: RRTM, a validated correlated-k model for the longwave , 1997 .

[6]  J. Dudhia.  Numerical Study of Convection Observed during the Winter Monsoon Experiment Using a Mesoscale Two-Dimensional Model , 1989 .

[7]  D. Bromwich,et al.  Development and Testing of Polar WRF. Part III: Arctic Land* , 2011 .

[8]  K. Eckhardt,et al.  Plant parameter values for models in temperate climates , 2003 .

[9]  D. Jacob,et al.  The effect of downscaling on river runoff modeling: a hydrological case study in the Upper Danube Watershed , 2011 .

[10]  Jens Christian Refsgaard,et al.  Terminology, Modelling Protocol And Classification of Hydrological Model Codes , 1990 .

[11]  V. Klemeš,et al.  Operational Testing of Hydrological Simulation Models , 2022 .

[12]  R. Hock.  A distributed temperature-index ice- and snowmelt model including potential direct solar radiation , 1999, Journal of Glaciology.

[13]  Liesbeth Opdenacker,et al.  Development and Testing , 2021, Radial Flow Turbocompressors.

[14]  John W. Pomeroy,et al.  Coupled Modelling of Forest Snow Interception and Sublimation , 1998 .

[15]  Zong-Liang Yang,et al.  Validation of the energy budget of an alpine snowpack simulated by several snow models (Snow MIP project) , 2004, Annals of Glaciology.

[16]  M. J. Hall.  How well does your model fit the data , 2001 .

[17]  Dmitri Kavetski,et al.  Pursuing the method of multiple working hypotheses for hydrological modeling , 2011 .

[18]  Araldur,et al.  Numerical simulations of precipitation in the complex terrain of Iceland – Comparison with glaciological and hydrological data , 2007 .

[19]  W. Mauser,et al.  Application of a hydrometeorological model chain to investigate the effect of global boundaries and downscaling on simulated river discharge , 2014, Environmental Earth Sciences.

[20]  D. Stauffer,et al.  Use of Four-Dimensional Data Assimilation in a Limited-Area Mesoscale Model. Part I: Experiments with Synoptic-Scale Data , 1990 .

[21]  Thomas T. Warner,et al.  Numerical Weather and Climate Prediction , 2011 .

[22]  J. Dudhia,et al.  Coupling an Advanced Land Surface–Hydrology Model with the Penn State–NCAR MM5 Modeling System. Part I: Model Implementation and Sensitivity , 2001 .

[23]  Roger G. Barry,et al.  The Global Cryosphere: The terrestrial cryosphere , 2011 .

[24]  Massimiliano Zappa,et al.  Seasonal Water Balance of an Alpine Catchment as Evaluated by Different Methods for Spatially Distributed Snowmelt Modelling , 2003 .

[25]  M. Rummukainen.  State‐of‐the‐art with regional climate models , 2010 .

[26]  Donald K. McCool,et al.  Process-based snowmelt modeling: does it require more input data than temperature-index modeling? , 2005 .

[27]  Kelly Elder,et al.  Evaluation of forest snow processes models (SnowMIP2) , 2009 .

[28]  F. Giorgi.  Regional climate modeling: Status and perspectives , 2006 .

[29]  Albert Rango,et al.  Revisiting the Degree-Day Method for Snowmelt Computations , 1995 .

[30]  Georg Jost,et al.  Distributed temperature-index snowmelt modelling for forested catchments , 2012 .

[31]  Wanqiu Wang,et al.  A New High-Resolution Blended Real-Time Global Sea Surface Temperature Analysis , 2003 .

[32]  U. Strasser,et al.  Inter-Comparison of two Snow Models with Different Complexity using Data from an Alpine Site , 2002 .

[33]  Zong-Liang Yang,et al.  Assessment of three dynamical climate downscaling methods using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model , 2008 .

[34]  J. Dudhia,et al.  High-Resolution Simulations of Wintertime Precipitation in the Colorado Headwaters Region: Sensitivity to Physics Parameterizations , 2011 .

[35]  T. Pavelsky,et al.  Accumulation and melt dynamics of snowpack from a multiresolution regional climate model in the central Sierra Nevada, California , 2011 .

[36]  Jan Seibert,et al.  Reliability of Model Predictions Outside Calibration Conditions , 2003 .

[37]  Karsten Schulz,et al.  High resolution modelling of snow transport in complex terrain using downscaled MM5 wind fields , 2010 .

[38]  L. S. Kuchment,et al.  THE DETERMINATION OF THE SNOWMELT RATE AND THE MELTWATER OUTFLOW FROM A SNOWPACK FOR MODELLING RIVER RUNOFF GENERATION , 1996 .

[39]  Tammo S. Steenhuis,et al.  A Simple Process‐Based Snowmelt Routine to Model Spatially Distributed Snow Depth and Snowmelt in the SWAT Model 1 , 2012 .

[40]  Dieter Scherer,et al.  WRF simulation of a precipitation event over the Tibetan Plateau, China - an assessment using remote sensing and ground observations , 2010 .

[41]  E. Anderson,et al.  Development and testing of snow pack energy balance equations , 1968 .

[42]  T. Gan,et al.  Evaluating a hierarchy of snowmelt models at a watershed in the Canadian Prairies , 2009 .

[43]  Thomas Marke,et al.  Distributed, explicit modeling of technical snow production for a ski area in the Schladming region (Austrian Alps) , 2014 .

[44]  William L. Quinton,et al.  The cold regions hydrological model: a platform for basing process representation and model structure on physical evidence , 2007 .

[45]  Ulrich Strasser,et al.  Modeling Snow–Canopy Processes on an Idealized Mountain , 2011 .

[46]  Eric A. Anderson,et al.  National Weather Service river forecast system: snow accumulation and ablation model , 1973 .

[47]  G. Thompson,et al.  Impact of Cloud Microphysics on the Development of Trailing Stratiform Precipitation in a Simulated Squall Line: Comparison of One- and Two-Moment Schemes , 2009 .

[48]  Jan Seibert,et al.  Conceptual Runoff Models -- Fiction or Representation of Reality , 1999 .

[49]  Thomas H. Painter,et al.  Mountain hydrology of the western United States , 2006 .

[50]  U. Strasser,et al.  ESCIMO.spread – a spreadsheet-based point snow surface energy balance model to calculate hourly snow water equivalent and melt rates for historical and changing climate conditions , 2010 .

[51]  Wolfram Mauser,et al.  Is snow sublimation important in the alpine water balance , 2007 .

[52]  G. Powers,et al.  A Description of the Advanced Research WRF Version 3 , 2008 .

[53]  J. Monteith.  Evaporation and environment. , 1965, Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology.

[54]  Günter Blöschl,et al.  Time stability of catchment model parameters: Implications for climate impact analyses , 2011 .

[55]  R. Charbonneau.  Problems of modelling a high mountainous drainage basin with predominant snow yields , 1981 .

[56]  D. Stensrud.  Parameterization Schemes: Keys to Understanding Numerical Weather Prediction Models , 2007 .

[57]  J. Dudhia,et al.  A New Vertical Diffusion Package with an Explicit Treatment of Entrainment Processes , 2006 .

[58]  M. J. Hall,et al.  Rainfall-Runoff Modelling , 2004 .

[59]  Roger G. Barry,et al.  The Global Cryosphere: Past, Present and Future , 2011 .

[60]  Soroosh Sorooshian,et al.  Operational snow modeling: Addressing the challenges of an energy balance model for National Weather Service forecasts , 2008 .

[61]  John S. Kain,et al.  The Kain–Fritsch Convective Parameterization: An Update , 2004 .

[62]  H. Ólafsson,et al.  Numerical simulations of precipitation in the complex terrain of Iceland - Comparison with glaciological and hydrological data , 2007 .

[63]  H. Kalmus,et al.  Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology. , 1961 .

[64]  P. E. O'connell,et al.  IAHS Decade on Predictions in Ungauged Basins (PUB), 2003–2012: Shaping an exciting future for the hydrological sciences , 2003 .

[65]  Martin Funk,et al.  Spatial and temporal variability of meteorological variables at Haut Glacier d'Arolla (Switzerland) during the ablation season 2001: Measurements and simulations , 2004 .

[66]  Roger G. Barry,et al.  The Global Cryosphere: Acknowledgements , 2011 .

[67]  Kristian Förster,et al.  A weather dependent approach to estimate the annual course of vegetation parameters for water balance simulations on the meso- and macroscale , 2012 .

[68]  Thomas Marke,et al.  Scenarios of Future Snow Conditions in Styria (Austrian Alps) , 2015 .

[69]  Wei Yang,et al.  The footprint of Asian monsoon dynamics in the mass and energy balance of a Tibetan glacier , 2012 .

[70]  K. Beven.  Rainfall-Runoff Modelling: The Primer , 2012 .

[71]  John W. Pomeroy,et al.  Measurements and modelling of snow interception in the boreal forest , 1998 .

[72]  Martin Funk,et al.  An enhanced temperature-index glacier melt model including the shortwave radiation balance: development and testing for Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland , 2005 .

[73]  Keith Beven,et al.  Causal models as multiple working hypotheses about environmental processes , 2012 .

[74]  A. Rutter,et al.  A predictive model of rainfall interception in forests, 1. Derivation of the model from observations in a plantation of Corsican pine , 1971 .