Comparison of Snow Data Assimilation System with GPS reflectometry snow depth in the Western United States

In this study, we compare gridded snow depth estimates from the Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) with snow depth observations derived from GPS interferometric reflectometry (GPS‐IR) from roughly 100 Plate Boundary Observatory sites in the Western United States spanning four water‐years (2010–2013). Data from these sites are not assimilated by SNODAS; thus, GPS‐IR measurements provide an independent data set to evaluate SNODAS. Our results indicate that at 80% of the sites, SNODAS and GPS‐IR snow depth agree to better than 15‐cm root mean square error, with correlation coefficients greater than 0.6. Significant differences are found between GPS‐IR and SNODAS for sites that are distant from other point measurements, are located in complex terrain or are in areas with strong vegetation heterogeneities. GPS‐IR estimates of snow depth are shown to provide useful error characterization of SNODAS products across much of the Western United States and may have potential as an additional data assimilation source that could help improve SNODAS estimates. © 2014 The Authors. Hydrological Processes published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

The sensitivity of runoff generation to spatial snowpack uniformity in an alpine watershed: Green Lakes Valley,Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research station

Seasonal water storage in high-elevation alpine catchments are critical sources of water for mountainous regions like the western U.S. The spatial distribution of snow in these topographically complex catchments is primarily governed by orography, solar radiation, and wind redistribution. While the effect of solar shading is relatively consistent from year-to-year, the redistribution of snow due to wind is more variable – capable of producing snowpacks that have varying degrees of uniformity across these hydrologically-important catchments. A reasonable hypothesis is that a warmer climate will cause snowfall to become more dense (i.e. wetter and heavier), possibly leading to less wind redistribution and thus produce a more uniformly distributed snowpack across the landscape. In this study, we investigate the role of increasingly uniform spatial snowpack distributions on streamflow generation in the Green Lakes Valley Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological Research station, within the headwaters of the Boulder Creek watershed in Colorado. A set of idealized hydrologic simulation experiments driven by reconstructed snowpacks spanning 2001–2014 show that more a more uniform spatial snowpack distribution leads to an earlier melt-out of 31 days on average and tends to produce less total streamflow, with maximum decreases as large as 7.5%. Isolating the role of snowpack heterogeneity from melt-season precipitation, we find that snowpack uniformity reduces total streamflow by as much as 13.2%. Reductions in streamflow are largely explained by greater exposure to solar radiation in the uniformly distributed case relative to a more heterogeneous snowpack, with this exposure driving shifts towards earlier snowmelt and changes in soil water storage. Overall, we find that the runoff efficiency from shallower snowpacks is more sensitive to the effects of uniformity than deeper snowpacks, which has potential implications for a warming climate where shallower snowpacks and enhanced sensitivities may be present.     

Active microwave remote sensing for soil moisture measurement: a field evaluation using ERS‐2

Active microwave remote sensing observations of backscattering, such as C‐band vertically polarized synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations from the second European remote sensing (ERS‐2) satellite, have the potential to measure moisture content in a near‐surface layer of soil. However, SAR backscattering observations are highly dependent on topography, soil texture, surface roughness and soil moisture, meaning that soil moisture inversion from single frequency and polarization SAR observations is difficult. In this paper, the potential for measuring near‐surface soil moisture with the ERS‐2 satellite is explored by comparing model estimates of backscattering with ERS‐2 SAR observations. This comparison was made for two ERS‐2 overpasses coincident with near‐surface soil moisture measurements in a 6 ha catchment using 15‐cm time domain reflectometry probes on a 20 m grid. In addition, 1‐cm soil moisture data were obtained from a calibrated soil moisture model. Using state‐of‐the‐art theoretical, semi‐empirical and empirical backscattering models, it was found that using measured soil moisture and roughness data there were root mean square (RMS) errors from 3·5 to 8·5 dB and r² values from 0·00 to 0·25, depending on the backscattering model and degree of filtering. Using model soil moisture in place of measured soil moisture reduced RMS errors slightly (0·5 to 2 dB) but did not improve r² values. Likewise, using the first day of ERS‐2 backscattering and soil moisture data to solve for RMS surface roughness reduced RMS errors in backscattering for the second day to between 0·9 and 2·8 dB, but did not improve r² values. Moreover, RMS differences were as large as 3·7 dB and r² values as low as 0·53 between the various backscattering models, even when using the same data as input. These results suggest that more research is required to improve the agreement between backscattering models, and that ERS‐2 SAR data may be useful for estimating fields‐scale average soil moisture but not variations at the hillslope scale. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Use of multi‐platform,multi‐temporal remote‐sensing data for calibration of a distributed hydrological model: an application in the Arno basin,Italy

Images from satellite platforms are a valid aid in order to obtain distributed information about hydrological surface states and parameters needed in calibration and validation of the water balance and flood forecasting. Remotely sensed data are easily available on large areas and with a frequency compatible with land cover changes. In this paper, remotely sensed images from different types of sensor have been utilized as a support to the calibration of the distributed hydrological model MOBIDIC, currently used in the experimental system of flood forecasting of the Arno River Basin Authority. Six radar images from ERS‐2 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors (three for summer 2002 and three for spring–summer 2003) have been utilized and a relationship between soil saturation indexes and backscatter coefficient from SAR images has been investigated. Analysis has been performed only on pixels with meagre or no vegetation cover, in order to legitimize the assumption that water content of the soil is the main variable that influences the backscatter coefficient. Such pixels have been obtained by considering vegetation indexes (NDVI) and land cover maps produced by optical sensors (Landsat‐ETM). In order to calibrate the soil moisture model based on information provided by SAR images, an optimization algorithm has been utilized to minimize the regression error between saturation indexes from model and SAR data and error between measured and modelled discharge flows. Utilizing this procedure, model parameters that rule soil moisture fluxes have been calibrated, obtaining not only a good match with remotely sensed data, but also an enhancement of model performance in flow prediction with respect to a previous calibration with river discharge data only. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tectonic and sedimentary processes at the submarine Antique Ridge and the accretionary wedge of Negros (Sulu Sea, Philippines): Results of an underwater television and photographic survey by RV 'Sonne'

Abstract Numerous Neogene/Quaternary marl outcrops of the submarine Antique Ridge and southern Negros accretionary complexes (Sulu Sea, Philippines) were formed by an oversteepen-ing of the slope by the collision with the Cagayan Ridge and Cuyo Platform and also by erosion.
The outcrops exhibit distinct joint systems that were developed under compressional stress parallel to an east-northeast subduction of the southeast Sulu Basin complex under the Panay-Negros Fore-Arc and Arc Complexes during the Late Miocene/earliest Pliocene. Typical bc-(longitudinal) joints following the axial trend of the subduction zone, hkO (diagonal) shear joints, and ac-(transverse) joints were formed. The regional stress in south-southeast, which has changed to northeast since the Early Pliocene, has caused an uplift of the accretionary complexes and a clockwise rotation of the subduction/collision zone axis of the Antique Ridge complex from a more northern direction to NNE. Consequently the pre-existing joint system has also rotated for 10° to 20°. A strike-slip motion parallel to this axis as a consequence of the NE collision may have been accommodated within the accretionary complex by the bc-joints.
Some bedding-plane parallel white veins or layers may be related to calcium carbonate precipitation via oxidation of methane which was probably carried by migrating fluids along shear zones.
Downslope, sediment transport as well as trench-parallel sediment transport in southerly directions is still going on, indicating active tectonic oversteepening of the slopes of the accretionary complexes as well as flowing water, possibly of intermediate water from the Northwest Sulu Basin into the Southeast Sulu Basin via the Panay Canyon.