scholarly journals Mass-balance estimates for Haut Glacier d’Arolla, Switzerland, from 2000 to 2006 using DEMs and distributed mass-balance modeling

2008 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 22-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruzica Dadic ◽  
Javier G. Corripio ◽  
Paolo Burlando
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Snow Water Equivalent ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Accurate Estimation ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Modeling Approach ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Snow And Ice

AbstractA distributed mass-balance modeling approach is required to assess the impact of future climate scenarios on water availability in glaciated basins. Accurate estimation of water stored within the snow, firn and ice of such basins requires knowledge of the distributed snow and ice mass balance throughout the year. In this study, we estimate the annual mass balance and runoff for Haut Glacier d′Arolla, Switzerland, from 2000 to 2006. Our estimations are based on observed elevation changes from three digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from aerial photographs in September 1999 and 2005, and October 2006. In addition to these estimations, we implement a combined field observation and a distributed mass-balance modeling approach. An energy-balance model driven by meteorological variables from automatic weather stations inside the catchment area, including gravitational snow transport, is run for the period 2005–06. The model results are validated with direct snow water equivalent measurements as well as with runoff measurements. Combining the mass-balance measurements, energy-balance calculations and measured runoff, we estimate the contribution from ice melt to the runoff for this period to be 25–30%, the contribution from snowmelt 50–60% and the contribution from rain 15–25%. Our model results also show that the snow distribution affects both snow and ice melt. It is therefore important for water resources management to understand the distribution of snow in alpine catchments, as it seems to be the controlling factor for the timing of streamflow throughout the year as well as for the total availability of water.

Development of basinal scale glacier mass balance model: an approach based on satellite observation and energy balance components

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akansha Patel ◽  
Ajanta Goswami ◽  
Thamban Meloth ◽  
Parmanand Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Glacier Mass Balance ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
The Impact

<p>The understanding of fresh water storage in the Himalayan region is essential for water resource management of the region. As glacier mass balance is a difference between the input and output water storage in a glacier over a period, glacier mass balance can be used as an indirect method to understand the storage. In the northwestern Himalaya, microscale meteorological stations are needed for mass balance estimation due to rugged terrain and complex topography of this region. However, there are only few meteorological stations available in that region. Therefore, in this study, we have developed a new model for glacier mass balance estimation at basinal scale. This model  includes the parameterization of energy balance components viz. albedo, longwave radiation, shortwave radiation, sensible heat, latent heat and heat flux at spatial and temporal scale using earth observation data. The modeling of air temperature is performed using the multi-regression analysis over the Chenab basin of the Indian Himalayas. Simulation is driven with the 16-days Landsat optical and thermal data from 2015 to 2018 that can be used for parameterization of the variable. This model is calibrated and validated with the field data of period 2015-2016. Further, the impact of climatic change and their influence on mass balance was also assessed to understand the future glacier health and mass changes. In contrast to previous temperature index based basin scale models, this model includes most of the energy balance components for better estimation of glacier mass balance. The model can also be used to estimate possible responses of the world’s glaciers to future climate change.</p>

scholarly journals Simulating melt, runoff and refreezing on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard, using a coupled snow and energy balance model

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 641-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. J. van Pelt ◽  
J. Oerlemans ◽  
C. H. Reijmer ◽  
V. A. Pohjola ◽  
R. Pettersson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Energy Balance Model ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Equilibrium Line Altitude ◽  
Mass Budget ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. A distributed energy balance model is coupled to a multi-layer snow model in order to study the mass balance evolution and the impact of refreezing on the mass budget of Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard. The model is forced with output from the regional climate model RACMO and meteorological data from Svalbard Airport. Extensive calibration and initialisation are performed to increase the model accuracy. For the period 1989–2010, we find a mean net mass balance of −0.39 m w.e. a−1. Refreezing contributes on average 0.27 m w.e. a−1 to the mass budget and is most pronounced in the accumulation zone. The simulated mass balance, radiative fluxes and subsurface profiles are validated against observations and are generally in good agreement. Climate sensitivity experiments reveal a non-linear, seasonally dependent response of the mass balance, refreezing and runoff to changes in temperature and precipitation. It is shown that including seasonality in climate change, with less pronounced summer warming, reduces the sensitivity of the mass balance and equilibrium line altitude (ELA) estimates in a future climate. The amount of refreezing is shown to be rather insensitive to changes in climate.

scholarly journals Simulating melt, runoff and refreezing on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard, using a coupled snow and energy balance model

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. J. van Pelt ◽  
J. Oerlemans ◽  
C. H. Reijmer ◽  
V. A. Pohjola ◽  
R. Pettersson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Energy Balance ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Energy Balance Model ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Mass Budget ◽  
Sensitivity Experiments ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. A distributed energy balance model is coupled to a multi-layer snow model in order to study the mass balance evolution and the impact of refreezing on the mass budget of Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard. The model is forced with output of a regional climate model (RACMO) and meteorological data from Svalbard Airport. Extensive calibration and initialisation are performed to increase the model accuracy. For the period 1989–2010, we find a mean net mass balance of −0.39 m w.e. a−1. Refreezing contributes on average 0.27 m w.e. a−1 to the mass budget and is most pronounced in the accumulation zone. The simulated mass balance, radiative fluxes and subsurface profiles are validated against observations and are generally in good agreement. Climate sensitivity experiments reveal a non-linear, seasonally dependent response of the mass balance, refreezing and runoff to changes in temperature and precipitation. Output of the climate sensitivity experiments is used in combination with temperature and precipitation time-series to extend mass balance time-series in the past and the future to obtain estimates for the period 1912–2085. It is shown that including seasonality in climate change, with less pronounced summer warming, has a major impact on future mass balance and ELA estimates. Due to compensating effects, the contribution of refreezing hardly changes in a future climate.

Exploring the use of gpr and satellite-based snow data for snowmelt runoff predictions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria Clemenzi ◽  
David Gustafsson ◽  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Björn Norell ◽  
Wolf Marchand ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Snow Water Equivalent ◽  
Distribution Model ◽  
Accurate Estimation ◽  
Snowmelt Runoff ◽  
Snow Water ◽  
Snow Distribution ◽  
The Impact

<p>Snow in the mountains is the result of the interplay between meteorological conditions, e.g., precipitation, wind and solar radiation, and landscape features, e.g., vegetation and topography. For this reason, it is highly variable in time and space. It represents an important water storage for several sectors of the society including tourism, ecology and hydropower. The estimation of the amount of snow stored in winter and available in the form of snowmelt runoff can be strategic for their sustainability. In the hydropower sector, for example, the occurrence of higher snow and snowmelt runoff volumes at the end of the spring and in the early summer compared to the estimated one can substantially impact reservoir regulation with energy and economical losses. An accurate estimation of the snow volumes and their spatial and temporal distribution is thus essential for spring flood runoff prediction. Despite the increasing effort in the development of new acquisition techniques, the availability of extensive and representative snow and density measurements for snow water equivalent estimations is still limited. Hydrological models in combination with data assimilation of ground or remote sensing observations is a way to overcome these limitations. However, the impact of using different types of snow observations on snowmelt runoff predictions is, little understood. In this study we investigated the potential of assimilating in situ and remote sensing snow observations to improve snow water equivalent estimates and snowmelt runoff predictions. We modelled the seasonal snow water equivalent distribution in the Lake Överuman catchment, Northern Sweden, which is used for hydropower production. Simulations were performed using the semi-distributed hydrological model HYPE for the snow seasons 2017-2020. For this purpose, a snowfall distribution model based on wind-shelter factors was included to represent snow spatial distribution within model units. The units consist of 2.5x2.5 km<sup>2</sup> grid cells, which were further divided into hydrological response units based on elevation, vegetation and aspect. The impact on the estimation of the total catchment mean snow water equivalent and snowmelt runoff volume were evaluated using for data assimilation, gpr-based snow water equivalent data acquired along survey lines in the catchment in the early spring of the four years, snow water equivalent data obtained by a machine learning algorithm and satellite-based fractional snow cover data. Results show that the wind-shelter based snow distribution model was able to represent a similar spatial distribution as the gpr survey lines, when assessed on the catchment level. Deviations in the model performance within and between specific gpr survey lines indicate issues with the spatial distribution of input precipitation, and/or need to include explicit representation of snow drift between model units. The explicit snow distribution model also improved runoff simulations, and the ability of the model to improve forecast through data assimilation.</p>

scholarly journals BESTest for Integrated Outdoor-Indoor Energy Balance Modelling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Bakkali ◽  
Yasunobu Ashie
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Simulation ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Fully Integrated ◽  
Heat Islands ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
The Impact

In our growing cities, climate change and energy related uncertainties are of great concern. The impact of the Urban Heat Island on comfort, health and the way we use energy still requires further clarification. The outdoor-indoor energy balance model (3D-City Irradiance) presented in this article was developed so as to address these issues. The effects of view factors between urban surfaces on three-dimensional radiation and the effects of fully integrated outdoor-indoor energy balance schemes on heat islands and building indoor thermal loads could be included within different building blocks at a resolution of several metres. The model operated under the ‘stand alone’ mode. It was tested using the Building Energy Simulation Test (BESTest) which demonstrated good levels of agreement for diurnal and seasonal simulations.

Snowpack energy balance and changes in the frequency and extremity of rain-on-snow events in the warming climate

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondrej Hotovy ◽  
Michal Jenicek
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Snow Water Equivalent ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
The Future ◽  
Snow Water ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Catchment Runoff

<p>Seasonal snowpack significantly influences the catchment runoff and thus represents an important input for the hydrological cycle. Changes in the precipitation distribution and intensity, as well as a shift from snowfall to rain is expected in the future due to climate changes. As a result, rain-on-snow events, which are considered to be one of the main causes of floods in winter and spring, may occur more frequently. Heat from liquid precipitation constitutes one of the snowpack energy balance components. Consequently, snowmelt and runoff may be strongly affected by these temperature and precipitation changes.</p><p>The objective of this study is 1) to evaluate the frequency, inter-annual variability and extremity of rain-on-snow events in the past based on existing measurements together with an analysis of changes in the snowpack energy balance, and 2) to simulate the effect of predicted increase in air temperature on the occurrence of rain-on-snow events in the future. We selected 40 near-natural mountain catchments in Czechia with significant snow influence on runoff and with available long-time series (>35 years) of daily hydrological and meteorological variables. A semi-distributed conceptual model, HBV-light, was used to simulate the individual components of the water cycle at a catchment scale. The model was calibrated for each of study catchments by using 100 calibration trials which resulted in respective number of optimized parameter sets. The model performance was evaluated against observed runoff and snow water equivalent. Rain-on-snow events definition by threshold values for air temperature, snow depth, rain intensity and snow water equivalent decrease allowed us to analyze inter-annual variations and trends in rain-on-snow events during the study period 1965-2019 and to explain the role of different catchment attributes.</p><p>The preliminary results show that a significant change of rain-on-snow events related to increasing air temperature is not clearly evident. Since both air temperature and elevation seem to be an important rain-on-snow drivers, there is an increasing rain-on-snow events occurrence during winter season due to a decrease in snowfall fraction. In contrast, a decrease in total number of events was observed due to the shortening of the period with existing snow cover on the ground. Modelling approach also opened further questions related to model structure and parameterization, specifically how individual model procedures and parameters represent the real natural processes. To understand potential model artefacts might be important when using HBV or similar bucket-type models for impact studies, such as modelling the impact of climate change on catchment runoff.</p>

scholarly journals Climate sensitivity of glaciers in southern Norway: application of an energy-balance model to Nigardsbreen, Hellstugubreen and Alfotbreen

1992 ◽  
Vol 38 (129) ◽  
pp. 223-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Oerlemans
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Flow Model ◽  
Energy Balance Model ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Equilibrium Line Altitude ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Calculated Mass ◽  
Southern Norway

AbstractThree glaciers in southern Norway, with very different mass-balance characteristics, are studied with an energy-balance model of the ice/snow surface. The model simulates the observed mass-balance profiles in a satisfactory way, and can thus be used with some confidence in a study of climate sensitivity. Calculated changes in equilibrium-line altitude for a 1 K temperature increase are 110, 108 and 135 m for Nigardsbreen, Hellstugubreen and Alfotbreen, respectively. The corresponding changes in mass balance, averaged over the entire glacier area, are −0.88, −0.715 and −1.11 m year−1 (water equivalent).Runs with an ice-flow model for Nigardsbreen, to which calculated mass-balance profiles arc imposed, predict that the front will advance by 3 km for a 1 K cooling, and will retreat by as much as 6.5 km for a 1 K warming. The response to a 10% increase in precipitation would be a 2 km advance of the snout, whereas a 4 km retreat is predicted for a 10% decrease. This large sensitivity (as compared to many other glaciers) is to a large extent due to the geometry of Nigardsbreen.

scholarly journals COSIPY v1.2 – An open-source coupled snowpack and ice surface energy and mass balance model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Sauter ◽  
Anselm Arndt ◽  
Christoph Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Surface Mass Balance ◽  
Mass Balance Model ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Surface Mass ◽  
Ice Surface

Abstract. Glacial changes play a key role both from a socio-economical and political, and scientific point of view. The identification and the understanding of the nature of these changes still poses fundamental challenges for climate, glacier and water research. Many studies aim to identify the climatic drivers behind the observed glacial changes using distributed surface mass and energy balance models. Distributed surface mass balance models, which translate the meteorological conditions on glaciers into local melting rates, thus offer the possibility to attribute and detect glacier mass and volume responses to changes in the climatic forcings. A well calibrated model is a suitable test-bed for sensitivity, detection and attribution analyses for many scientific applications and often serves as a tool for quantifying the inherent uncertainties. Here we present the open-source coupled snowpack and ice surface energy and mass balance model in Python COSIPY, which provides a lean, flexible and user-friendly framework for modelling distributed snow and glacier mass changes. The model has a modular structure so that the exchange of routines or parameterizations of physical processes is possible with little effort for the user. The model has a modular structure so that the exchange of routines or parameterizations of physical processes is possible with little effort for the user. The framework consists of a computational kernel, which forms the runtime environment and takes care of the initialization, the input-output routines, the parallelization as well as the grid and data structures. This structure offers maximum flexibility without having to worry about the internal numerical flow. The adaptive sub-surface scheme allows an efficient and fast calculation of the otherwise computationally demanding fundamental equations. The surface energy-balance scheme uses established standard parameterizations for radiation as well as for the energy exchange between atmosphere and surface. The schemes are coupled by solving both surface energy balance and subsurface fluxes iteratively in such that consistent surface skin temperature is returned at the interface. COSIPY uses a one-dimensional approach limited to the vertical fluxes of energy and matter but neglects any lateral processes. Accordingly, the model can be easily set up in parallel computational environments for calculating both energy balance and climatic surface mass balance of glacier surfaces based on flexible horizontal grids and with varying temporal resolution. The model is made available on a freely accessible site and can be used for non-profit purposes. Scientists are encouraged to actively participate in the extension and improvement of the model code.

scholarly journals Implementation of a process-based catchment model in a poorly gauged, highly glacierized Himalayan headwater

2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1323-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Konz ◽  
S. Uhlenbrook ◽  
L. Braun ◽  
A. Shrestha ◽  
S. Demuth
Keyword(s):  
Model Simulation ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Index Method ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Modeling Approach ◽  
Catchment Modeling ◽  
Daily Discharge ◽  
Hbv Model ◽  
Catchment Model ◽  
Snow And Ice

Abstract. The paper presents a catchment modeling approach for remote glacierized Himalayan catchments. The distributed catchment model TACD, which is widely based on the HBV model, was further developed for the application in highly glacierized catchments on a daily timestep and applied to the Nepalese Himalayan headwater Langtang Khola (360 km2). Low laying reference stations are taken for temperature extrapolation applying a second order polynomial function. Probability based statistical methods enable bridging data gaps in daily precipitation time series and the redistribution of cumulated precipitation sums over the previous days. Snow and ice melt was calculated in a distributed way based on the temperature-index method employing calculated daily potential sunshine durations. Different melting conditions of snow and ice and melting of ice under debris layers were considered. The spatial delineation of hydrological response units was achieved by taking topographic and physiographic information from maps and satellite images into account, and enabled to incorporate process knowledge into the model. Simulation results demonstrated that the model is able to simulate daily discharge for a period of 10 years and point glacier mass balances observed in the research area with an adequate reliability. The simple but robust data pre-processing and modeling approach enables the determination of the components of the water balance of a remote, data scarce catchment with a minimum of input data.

scholarly journals Evaluating the impact of climate on snow- and ice-melt dynamics in the Taillon basin, French Pyrénées

1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (145) ◽  
pp. 563-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Hannah ◽  
Glenn R. McGregor
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Atmospheric Circulation Patterns ◽  
Ice Melt ◽  
Circulation Types ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Snow And Ice Melt ◽  
Snow And Ice

AbstractThis pilot study adopts a computer-assisted synoptic typing methodology to evaluate the totality of climatic influences on snow- and ice-melt dynamics within a small cirque basin in the French Pyrénées. The synoptic categories identified possess contrasting large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns and surface energy budgets which generate differential ablation responses. Continental air masses yield consistently high melt. Advection of moist maritime air also produces elevated but more variable ablation due to air-mass transitions. The two observed local valley circulation types show melt to be higher under nocturnal katabatic drainage than for anabatic wind flows associated with development of daytime ridge-top cumulus.

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