Temporal inconsistencies in coarse-scale snow water equivalent patterns: Colorado River Basin snow telemetry-topography regressions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/Pirineos.2012.167008Keywords:
Colorado River, SNOTEL, snow water equivalent, surface topographyAbstract
The relation between snow water equivalent (SWE) and 28 variables (27 topographically-based topographic variables and canopy density) for the Colorado River Basin, USA was explored through a multi-variate regression. These variables include location, slope and aspect at different scales, derived variables to indicate the distance to sources of moisture and proximity to and characteristics of obstacles between these moisture sources and areas of snow accumulation, and canopy density. A weekly time step of snow telemetry (SNOTEL) SWE data from 1990 through 1999 was used. The most important variables were elevation and regional scale (81 km²) slope. Since the seasonal and inter-annual variability is high, a regression relationship should be formulated for each time step. The inter-annual variation in the relation between SWE and topographic variables partially corresponded with the amount of snow accumulated over the season and the El Niño Southern Oscillation cycle.
Downloads
References
Bales, R.C., Dressler, K., Imam, B., Fassnacht, S. & Lampkin, D.J., 2008. Fractional snow cover in the Colorado and Rio Grande basins, 1995-2002. Water Resources Research, 44(W01425), PMid :19081782 PMCid:2600520
Cayan, D.R., 1996. Interannual climate variability and snowpack in the western United States. Journal of Climate, 9: 928-948. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1996)009<0928:ICVASI>2.0.CO;2
Clark, M.P., Serreze, M.C. & G.J. McCabe, 2001. Historical effects of El Nino and La Nina events on the seasonal evolution of the montane snowpack in the Columbia and Colorado River Basins. Water Resources Research, 37(3): 741-757. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2000WR900305
Daly, C., Taylor, G. & Gibson, W., 1997. The PRISM Approach to Mapping Precipitation and Temperature. Proceedings of the 10th Conference on Applied Climatology, Reno, NV, American Meteorological Society, p10-12.
Dozier, J., 1989. Spectral signature of alpine snow cover from Landsat Thematic Mapper. Remote Sensing of the Environment, 28: 9-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0034-4257(89)90101-6
Dozier, J., 2011. Mountain Hydrology, Snow Color, and the Fourth Paradigm. EOS Transactions, 92(43): 373-374. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011EO430001
Dressler, K.A., Fassnacht, S.R. & Bales, R.C., 2006. A comparison of snow telemetry (SNOTEL) and snowcourse measurements in the Colorado River Basin. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 7(4): 705-712. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JHM506.1
Erxleben, J., Elder, K. & Davis, R., 2002. Comparison of spatial interpolation methods for estimation snow distribution in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Hydrological Processes, 16: 3627-3649. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hyp.1239
Fassnacht, S.R., Dressler, K.A. & Bales, R.C., 2003. Snow water equivalent interpolation for the Colorado River Basin from snow telemetry (SNOTEL) data. Water Resources Research, 39(8), 1208. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2002WR001512
Johnson, J.B., & Schaefer, G., 2002. The influence of thermal, hydrologic, and snow deformation mechanisms on snow water equivalent pressure sensor accuracy. Hydrological Processes, 16(18): 3529–3542. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hyp.1236
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center, 2003. HYDRO1k - Elevation Derivative Database. United States Geological Survey and National Aeronautic and Space Administration Distributed Active Archive Center, URL: <http://edcdaac.usgs.gov/gtopo30/hydro/>.
Lo, F., & Clark, M.P., 2002. Relations between spring snow mass and summer precipitation in the southwestern United States Associated with the North American Monsoon System. Journal of Climate, 15: 1378-1385. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<1378:RBSSMA>2.0.CO;2
Meyers, S.D., O’Brien, J.J. & Thelin, E., 1999. Reconstruction of monthly SST in the tropical Pacific Ocean during 1868-1993 using adaptive climate basis functions. Monthly Weather Review, 127(7): 1599–1612. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1999)127<1599:ROMSIT>2.0.CO;2
Mitchell, K., & Dubois, P., 1977. Gravity. In High Class in Borrowed Shoes, Anthem Publications ANR-1-1007, Toronto, Canada.
Mizukami, N, & Perica, S. 2008. Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Snowpack Density in the Mountainous Regions of the Western United States. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 9: 1416-1426, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2008JHM981.1
Mizukami, N., Perica, S.& Hatch, D., 2011. Regional approach for mapping climatological snow water equivalent over the mountainous regions of the western United States. Journal of Hydrology, 400(1-2): 72-82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.01.019
NRCS, 2003. SNOTEL (SNOwpack TELemetry). National Water and Climate Center Brochure, United States Department of Agriculture, .
Palmer, P.L., 1986, Estimating snow course water equivalent from SNOTEL pillow telemetry: an analysis of accuracy, in Proceedings of the 54th Western Snow Conference, pp. 81-86.
Repass, J.W., 2005. Assessment of Digital Land Cover Maps for Hydrological Modeling of the Yampa River Basin, Colorado, USA. Unpublished M.S. thesis, Watershed Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, 103pp + 9 appendices.
Seglenieks, F.R. Soulis, E.D., Solomon, S.I., Kouwen, N. & Lee,M., 1999. Development of Gridded Monthly Precipitation and Temperature Normals for Canada. Poster presentation at the scientific meeting of the Canadian Geophysical Union, Banff, Alberta, Canada, May 9-13.
Serreze, M.C., Clark, M.P., Armstrong, R.L., McGuiness, D.A. & Pulwarty, R.S., 1999. Characteristics of the western United States snowpack from snowpack telemetry (SNOTEL) data. Water Resources Research, 35(7): 2145- 2160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/1999WR900090
Serreze, M.C., Clark, M.P. & Frei, A., 2001. Characteristics of large snowfall events in the montane western United States as examined using snowpack telemetry (SNOTEL) data. Water Resources Research, 37(3): 675-688. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2000WR900307
Solomon, S.I., Denouvilliez, J.P., Chart, E.J., Woolley, J.A. & Cadou, C., 1968. The use of a square grid system for computer estimation of precipitation, temperature, and runoff. Water Resources Research, 4(5): 919-929. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/WR004i005p00919
Sturm, M., & Wagner, A.M., 2010. Using repeated patterns in snow distribution modeling: An Arctic example. Water Resources Research, 46: W12549. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010WR009434
US Forest Service, 2001. Forest land distribution data for the United States. URL: <http://http://www.srsfia.usfs.msstate.edu/rpa/rpa93.htm>.
Viviroli, D., Durr, H.H., Messerli, B., Meybeck, M & Weingartner, R., 2007. Mountains of the world, water towers for humanity: Typology, mapping, and global significance. Water Resources Research, 43: W07447. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006WR005653
Winstral, A., Elder, K., Davis, R.E., 2002. Spatial Snow Modeling of Wind- Redistributed Snow Using Terrain-Based Parameters. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 3: 524-538. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1525-7541(2002)003<0524:SSMOWR>2.0.CO;2
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2012 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the printed and online versions of this Journal are the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a “Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International” (CC BY 4.0) License. You may read here the basic information and the legal text of the license. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 License must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the published by the Editor, is not allowed.
