Spatio‐temporal controls of snowmelt and runoff generation during rain‐on‐snow events in a mid‐latitude mountain catchment |
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| Authors: | Jakob Garvelmann Stefan Pohl Markus Weiler |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Chair of Hydrology, University of Freiburg, Germany;2. Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK‐IFU), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Garmisch‐Partenkirchen, Germany |
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| Abstract: | A network of 30 standalone snow monitoring stations was used to investigate the snow cover distribution, snowmelt dynamics, and runoff generation during two rain‐on‐snow (ROS) events in a 40 km2 montane catchment in the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany. A multiple linear regression analysis using elevation, aspect, and land cover as predictors for the snow water equivalent (SWE) distribution within the catchment was applied on an hourly basis for two significant ROS flood events that occurred in December 2012. The available snowmelt water, liquid precipitation, as well as the total retention storage of the snow cover were considered in order to estimate the amount of water potentially available for the runoff generation. The study provides a spatially and temporally distributed picture of how the two observed ROS floods developed in the catchment. It became evident that the retention capacity of the snow cover is a crucial mechanism during ROS. It took several hours before water was released from the snowpack during the first ROS event, while retention storage was exceeded within 1 h from the start of the second event. Elevation was the most important terrain feature. South‐facing terrain contributed more water for runoff than north‐facing slopes, and only slightly more runoff was generated at open compared to forested areas. The results highlight the importance of snowmelt together with liquid precipitation for the generation of flood runoff during ROS and the large temporal and spatial variability of the relevant processes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | rain‐on‐snow runoff generation spatio‐temporal variability snowmelt catchment hydrology flood |
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