Verification of the multi-layer SNOWPACK model with different water transport schemes

Wever, N.; Schmid, L.; Heilig, A.; Eisen, O.; Fierz, C.; Lehning, M.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2271-2015

Articles | Volume 9, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2271-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2271-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 9, issue 6

Research article

|

07 Dec 2015

Research article |

| 07 Dec 2015

Verification of the multi-layer SNOWPACK model with different water transport schemes

N. Wever, L. Schmid, A. Heilig, O. Eisen, C. Fierz, and M. Lehning

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2271-2015-supplement

Data sets

Meteorological and snowpack measurements from Weissfluhjoch, Davos, Switzerland. WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF https://doi.org/10.16904/1

Manual bi-weekly snow profiles from Weissfluhjoch, Davos, Switzerland WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF https://doi.org/10.16904/2

Short summary

A verification of the physics based SNOWPACK model with field observations showed that typical snowpack properties like density and temperature are adequately simulated. Also two water transport schemes were verified, showing that although Richards equation improves snowpack runoff and several aspects of the internal snowpack structure, the bucket scheme appeared to have a higher agreement with the snow microstructure. The choice of water transport scheme may depend on the intended application.