Implications of observation-enhanced energy-balance snowmelt simulations for runoff modeling of Alpine catchments

Snow is an important component of the water balance of many mountain watersheds worldwide. In a warming climate, snowmelt modeling and consequent soil water input, is often challenged by complex conditions such as rain-on-snow situations. This is why detailed physics-based snow models are increasingly being used. These models however have much higher input data requirements, where in many cases accurate forcing fields are very difficult to provide. This study investigates whether the latest advances in the development of snow model framework actually translate into improved discharge simulations. To this end we integrated a distributed multi-layer energy-balance snow model with two recently developed methods of updating snow model mass and energy fluxes using snow observations to improve snow accumulation and depletion predictions. Surface water input from these simulations was used as input for subsequent streamflow modeling of 25 catchments in the Swiss Alps over four hydrological years. Our analysis clearly demonstrates the benefits of accurate snow simulations for hydrological modeling in Alpine catchments. Simulations that included the flux updates improved streamflow predictions, and offered best performance at high elevation, where snow most prominently affected watershed hydrology. These results were consistently achieved when analyzing model performance over entire hydrological years, over the snowmelt season only, and for individual events.

Modelling Drifting Snow Sublimation and Investigating Small-Scale Snow Transport

Christine Dorothea Groot Zwaaftink

Drifting snow has a large influence on the mountain snow cover and the overlying atmospheric boundary layer. Consequently, drifting snow also affects avalanches, snow hydrology, vegetation and climate. Considerable effort is devoted to understanding the process in order to model the effects on the mountain snow cover or the overlying atmosphere. This thesis work aims to I) provide estimates of drifting snow sublimation within a small catchment in the Swiss Alps and II) test an alternative method to describe snow transport on short time and small spatial scales. Drifting snow sublimation moistens and cools the surrounding air and causes a loss of snow mass. Based on the feedback mechanisms integrating air temperature, humidity and snow concentration, it should be seen as a self-limiting process. Drifting snow sublimation (including these feedback mechanisms) has been implemented in Alpine3D, which is a high-resolution snow transport model for alpine terrain. This model has been applied to a small area in the Swiss Alps for a case study of approximately two days. Results show that, in general, the negative feedbacks of sublimation on the snow mass concentration, air temperature, and humidity are small. They are, however, relevant on the slope scale, as could be retrieved from analyzing the deposition on a leeward slope. Compared to a reference simulation without sublimation, drifting snow sublimation reduced the deposition by approximately 12% on this leeward slope when omitting all feedback mechanisms. In a simulation where all feedbacks were included, drifting snow sublimation reduced the snow deposition on this slope by 10%. Drifting snow sublimation thus appears to be a significant process for a leeward slope influenced by drifting snow. On the contrary, the spatially averaged reduction of deposition due to drifting snow sublimation in the complete modelled domain was 2.3%. During this case study, this value was comparable to surface sublimation. At the same field site a simulation of a complete season was performed and in this case, sublimation of drifting snow was accounted for only in the absence of concurrent precipitation. As for the case study, the slope affected the most by drifting snow sublimation was shown to be a leeward slope for SE wind. This could be explained by generally warmer and dryer conditions during periods with SE wind. In this particular slope, the snow amount was reduced by about 1.8% due to drifting snow sublimation. For the complete domain however, the model results indicate that drifting snow sublimation is much smaller than surface sublimation and negligible for the total water equivalent. Thus, at the studied field site drifting snow sublimation seems only significant locally or on short time scales. Limitations of drifting snow simulations based on mean wind fields are seen as the variability of the snow cover is underestimated on scales of few meters. Moreover, these models are also not able to represent snow transport on very short time scales. High-frequency observations of drifting snow and sand saltation have shown that turbulent structures have an influence on the snow or sand mass flux. Improvements in modelling drifting snow on such time scales can thus be reached by considering turbulence. Here, a combination of wind fields from large eddy simulations and a Lagrangian stochastic model was used to describe snow particle trajectories over flat terrain. This model reproduced a time series of the snow mass flux that qualitatively corresponds to observations from the Weissfluhjoch Versuchsfeld. Furthermore, results show that the use of the surface shear stress rather than the friction velocity, as in conventional models, resulted in a spatial variation of drifting snow despite homogeneous snow properties and the flatness of the considered terrain. The distribution of the surface shear stress in space and time was found reasonable yet narrow based on the ratio between the standard deviation and the mean shear stress, which was 0.17 compared to a value of 0.4 reported for measurements. Nonetheless, this variable surface shear stress played a key role in the modelled spatial variation of drifting snow. This also points at a relevant influence of the particle aerodynamic entrainment process for drifting snow. The results thus show that this model seems to overcome limitations of conventional three-dimensional snow transport models as it gives a more realistic description of drifting snow on short time scales and it may be used to gain further insight in drifting snow.

EPFL2013

Flow and Temperature Dynamics in the Hydrologic Response: Travel Time Formulation and Application to Alpine Catchments

Francesco Comola, Michael Lehning, Andrea Rinaldo, Bettina Schaefli

We present a travel time formulation of water and energy transport at sub-catchment scale, resulting in a closed form solution for water temperature evolution in the subsoil compartment. The derived equations are implemented in Alpine3D, a physically-based model of snow processes, which provides the necessary boundary conditions to perform hydro-thermal response simulations of Alpine catchments. The model set-up accounts for advective and non-advective energy fluxes to perform spatially distributed simulations of streamflow and temperature in river networks having an arbitrary degree of geomorphological complexity. The model performance is illustrated comparing modeled and measured hydrographs and thermographs at the outlet of the Dischma catchment (45 km2) in the Swiss Alps. The model gives reliable predictions of streamflow and temperature. Our results suggest that the advective energy fluxes provide a large contribution to the thermal regime of the study catchment. The non-advective energy fluxes are also influential, as they contribute to cool the water in the winter and to warm it in the summer. The analysis of the distributed model results shows a notable streamflow spatial variability during a snowmelt event, as opposed to a more homogeneous response during a rainfall event. The stream temperature, instead, progressively increases from headwater streams to the outlet both during the snowmelt and the rainfall events. The proposed model completes the surface processes simulation framework of Alpine3D. The relevance of the work stems from the increasing scientific interest concerning the impacts of the warming climate on water resources management and temperature-influenced ecological processes.

2014

The effect of seasonal soil frost on the alpine groundwater recharge including climate change aspects

Daniel Bayard

In alpine areas, the snow cover plays an important role as a water reservoir. Water is stored as snow over the winter and released in spring, recharging mountain aquifers through infiltration. These aquifers are essential, especially for supplying water for human activities during dry seasons. Numerous studies have shown that locally soil frost can drastically reduce the water infiltration. However, we know much less about the hydrological impact of soil frost at a larger scale, in particular with regard to groundwater recharge. This was our motivation for initiating an extensive field experiment in the southern Swiss Alps. Several methods at different spatial scales were adapted to explore (a) the local effect of a partially frozen ground on the snowmelt discharge in an alpine area, (b) the key processes influencing groundwater recharge during snowmelt periods, such as snow cover and soil frost evolution, snowmelt water runoff types, (c) the large-scale effect of soil frost on the aquifer recharge, and (d) winter situations that are critical with respect to flooding. In order to take into account spatial, altitudinal and climatic differences, the field study was run for two winter seasons at Gd St Bernard (2500 m), a site with very high winter precipitation and strong winds, and at Hannigalp above Grächen (2100 m), a ski resort with a rather dry winter climate. The different components of the soil water balance (lateral runoff, deep percolation, liquid soil water content) were measured on delimited plots of 5 m2. Additionally, a dye tracer experiment visualized the snowmelt infiltration patterns into the frozen, respectively non-frozen ground. At Gd St Bernard, investigations of the liquid water content and the soil temperature were additionally conducted at two secondary sites, differing in their orientation, so as to gain a better insight of the spatial soil frost expansion. Finally, an analysis of the water-table variation at the village of Grächen (some 500 m below Hannigalp) during the snowmelt was carried out for a 10-year time period, including our experimental seasons. We complemented our field investigations by using a numerical soil-snow-atmosphere transfer model that simulates the seasonal development of the soil frost and the snow cover, as well as lateral and vertical water flow in the top soil. This model was used as an upper boundary condition to a 2-D groundwater model, to calculate the outlet flow at the base of a simplified alpine aquifer. The two winters investigated had contrasting meteorological conditions, which resulted in intriguing differences and similarities with respect to the soil physical conditions: the first one having a thick snowpack and hardly any soil frost, and the second one with hardly any snow until January and a deep and persistent soil frost. In spite of a very thick snowpack, the water balance measurements from winter 2000/2001 showed for both sites zero to low surface and subsurface flow due to the fact that soil frost was local and the soil permeability high. During the next winter, approximately 25% of the total meltwater run off laterally. The soil infiltration capacity was mainly reduced by the presence of a basal ice sheet, caused by the freezing of meltwater after a mid-winter snowmelt event. The field data were used to calibrate and validate a physically-based one-dimensional model. To allow an accurate parameter setting for the water repellent soil of Hannigalp, laboratory infiltration experiments on soil columns were additionally carried out. Using the resultant information, the model predicted correctly most measured soil parameters, in particular good matching was observed between measured and simulated snowmelt discharge. At Gd St Bernard, the simulated results were less satisfactory, especially during the first winter, when large discrepancies were noted between measured and simulated lateral runoff. Apart from the shortage in the soil parameter characterization, the deviation was a result of the simplified description of the experimental field. The model was, for example, not able to simulate surface runoff generated by a steep slope under unfrozen conditions, as the soil surface is considered by the model to be flat. Nevertheless, results were accurate enough to reproduce the occurrences of snowmelt events and the accumulated values of snow-melt discharge pathways under frozen conditions. Long-term weather data were used to simulate the soil frost depth at both sites. The simulation results showed that the probability of the occurrence of frozen soils was lowest on slopes with south or north exposure. On southerly exposed plots, the heat stored in the soil during the summer inhibited the development of deep and persistent soil frost, while most pore ice thawed due to underneath heating. On north plots, the building of soil frost was rare, as early snowfall insulated the ground from the atmosphere. However, during snow-poor winters, the frost penetrated deep into the ground, and the low underneath heat flux at that location hardly affected the frost depth until snowmelt. The snow depth and average soil temperature were hence the two components affecting the frost depth extent. The altitude soil frost variation was related to the spatial extent of these two components. The higher the altitude, the higher the precipitation and the lower the mean air/surface temperature. Simulating the whole Grächen recharge area, seasonal soil frost was rare between 1800 m and 2000 m, as the snowpack was thick enough to insulate the ground, and the soil was warm enough to inhibit deep soil frost. In lower areas, the shallow snowpack enabled the soil to freeze during most winters, whereas at higher areas, deep and persistent soil frost was simulated due to the low underneath heating. A 10-year water-table depth record was used to examine possible large-scale effects of seasonal soil frost. We noted that the water-table rise at snowmelt was lowest at the end of winters with extensive soil frost. However, such winters were characterized by low precipitation, and reduced snow cover. In contrast, winters with little soil frost were mostly snow rich. Consequently, only a reduced number of winters were directly comparable. Considering these winters, the reduction in the water-table rise at snowmelt due to seasonal soil frost varied only between 10 and 30%, as, during snowmelt, most meltwater was able to re-infiltrate into the very permeable ground in lower unfrozen areas. We may assume that a soil with a smaller infiltration capacity can increase the influence of the soil frost on the aquifer recharge. Finally, we investigated the effect of a changing climate on the hydraulic and thermic regimes at different altitudes in the area of Grächen. We assume an increase in the air temperature of 2°C generates deeper soil frost on lower areas, as the resultant smaller snow cover does not insulate the soil from the atmosphere any more. However, it does reduce the soil frost on higher, snow rich areas, due to the warmer air temperature. As a whole, minor changes were simulated on the mean groundwater recharge, as more/less meltwater was able to infiltrate in higher/lower areas. By increasing additionally the precipitation by 15%, the soil frost diminished slightly over the whole catchment. By combining both climate change scenarios, we may expect an increase in extreme events, as, on the one hand, the rainfall intensity increases, and, on the other hand, rain on snow events over frozen soils occurs more often in lower areas. In practice, this work shows the importance of better investigating the hydrothermal behaviour of alpine regions. Such a knowledge is necessary, as more and more efforts are put into managing efficiently, durably and globally the available water resources. This work stresses also the necessity to consider seasonally soil frost in alpine risk management. As an example, flooding is mostly a consequence of strong rain precipitation at high altitudes combined with heavy snowmelt. Obviously, the risk of extreme runoff events increases during frozen winters, when the soil infiltration capacity is further reduced by the soil ice. Also, it has been shown that unstable slopes are mostly related to specific hydrogeological situations, like strong precipitation, which induces a sharp increase in the underneath water circulation. The melt water in spring is hence a potential activating factor, and a frozen soil may reduce the risk of sliding, as less water infiltrates into the ground.