Premium
SnowSlide: A simple routine for calculating gravitational snow transport
Author(s) -
Bernhardt M.,
Schulz K.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2010gl043086
Subject(s) - snow , environmental science , massif , energy transport , snow field , snow cover , geology , physical geography , geomorphology , physics , geography , geochemistry , engineering physics
Knowledge about lateral snow transport processes is essential for the description of the spatial distribution of snow and therefore for the distribution of water on the lands surface. While numerous snow hydrological models are accounting for wind induced snow transport, they are mostly neglecting gravitational snow transport processes. This leads to unrealistic calculations of snow cover distributions in high Alpine regions effecting the subsequent prediction of individual components of the water and energy cycles at the land surface. “SnowSlide” as presented here is a fast and parsimonious model component allowing for the calculation of gravitational snow transport processes in an integral way. The functionality and performance of SnowSlide is demonstrated a) for artificial land surfaces and b) for two winter periods at the Watzmann massif in south‐east Germany. It is shown that the integration of SnowSlide into the snow‐hydrological model “SnowModel” is significantly improving the prediction of spatially distributed snow patterns in high Alpine areas and therefore generating more realistic descriptions of Alpine water and energy balances.