Influence of landscape aggregation in modelling snow-cover ablation and snowmelt runoff in a sub-arctic mountainous environment

Appropriate representation of landscape heterogeneity at small to medium scales is a central issue for hydrological modelling. Two main hydrological modelling approaches, deductive and inductive, are generally applied. Here, snow-cover ablation and basin snowmelt runoff are evaluated using a combine...

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Published inHydrological sciences journal Vol. 53; no. 4; pp. 725 - 740
Main Authors DORNES, PABLO F., POMEROY, JOHN W., PIETRONIRO, ALAIN, CAREY, SEAN K., QUINTON, WILLIAM L.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Wallingford Taylor & Francis Group 01.08.2008
IAHS Press
Subjects
aggregation
agrégation
deductive modelling
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
fonte nivale
HRU
Hydrology
Hydrology. Hydrogeology
inductive modelling
modélisation déductive
modélisation inductive
runoff
Snow. Ice. Glaciers
snowmelt
Territoire du Yukon
Yukon Territory
écoulement
Canada
Yukon Territory
Western Canada
Canada, Yukon Terr
landscapes
models
mountains
ablation
runoff
aggregation
North America
heterogeneity
meltwater
drainage basins
hydrological modeling
snow
flow
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Summary:Appropriate representation of landscape heterogeneity at small to medium scales is a central issue for hydrological modelling. Two main hydrological modelling approaches, deductive and inductive, are generally applied. Here, snow-cover ablation and basin snowmelt runoff are evaluated using a combined modelling approach that includes the incorporation of detailed process understanding along with information gained from observations of basin-wide streamflow phenomena. The study site is Granger Basin, a small sub-arctic basin in the mountains of the Yukon Territory, Canada. The analysis is based on the comparison between basin-aggregated and distributed landscape representations. Results show that the distributed model based on "hydrological response" landscape units best describes the observed magnitudes of both snow-cover ablation and basin runoff, whereas the aggregated approach fails to represent the differential snowmelt rates and to describe both runoff volumes and dynamics when discontinuous snowmelt events occur.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0262-6667
2150-3435
DOI:10.1623/hysj.53.4.725