Snow hydrology in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains

• Published in: Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
• Main Authors: Hanich, Lahoucine, Chehbouni, Abdelghani, Gascoin, Simon, Boudhar, Abdelghani, Jarlan, Lionel, Tramblay, Yves, Boulet, Gilles, Marchane, Ahmed, Baba, Mohamed Wassim, Kinnard, Christophe, Simonneaux, Vincent, Fakir, Younes, Bouchaou, Lhoussaine, Leblanc, Marc, Le Page, Michel, Bouamri, Hafsa, Er-Raki, Salah, Khabba, Saïd
• Other Authors: Université Cadi Ayyad Marrakech (UCA), Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique Ben Guerir (UM6P), Centre d'études spatiales de la biosphère (CESBIO), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Hydrosciences Montpellier (HSM), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM), Université du Québec à Montréal = University of Québec in Montréal (UQAM), Université Ibn Khaldoun (UIK), Environnement Méditerranéen et Modélisation des Agro-Hydrosystèmes (EMMAH), Avignon Université (AU)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Université Sultan Moulay Slimane (USMS ), Laboratoire de Mécanique des Fluides et Energétique (LMFE), Faculté des Sciences Semlalia Marrakech, Université Cadi Ayyad Marrakech (UCA)-Université Cadi Ayyad Marrakech (UCA), This research was carried out within the frame of the TREMA International Joint Laboratory (https:// www.lmi-trema.ma) , funded by the Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech and the French IRD (https:// www.ird.fr) . We acknowledge the Hydraulic basin agency of the Tensift (ABHT) for sharing the observation data. We are also grateful to the FP7 ERANET-MED CHAAMS03 - 62 project, the SAGESSE PPR/2015/48, the H2020 PRIMA IDEWA and ALTOS, the MISTRALS/SICMED, the TOSCA, the PIRAT, the IAEA CRP, Programme des chaires de recherche du Canada, the MorSnow research program within the UM6P (Mohammed VI Polytechnic University) for their additional financial support.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: Snow hydrology; Remote sensing; Snowpack; Semi arid areas; Moroccan Atlas Mountains; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; [SDU.STU.HY]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Hydrology; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://ird.hal.science/ird-03701667; https://ird.hal.science/ird-03701667/document; https://ird.hal.science/ird-03701667/file/1-s2.0-S2214581822001148-main.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2022.101101

International audience Study region : Atlas Mountains located in Morocco. Study focus : Mountainous regions constitute an area of water production, while water is used in downstream plains. In Central Morocco, the Atlas Mountains represent the most important water supply in the country. The solid part of precipitation forms seasonal snowpack. Snowmelt is important for the water supply for different uses in neighbouring plains. Accurate knowledge of snow water equivalent is key information needed by policy-makers to help design and implement appropriate allocation strategies for water resource management. The objective of this paper is to provide a summary of our research activities on snow hydrology in the Atlas Mountains during the past twenty years. The approach combines in situ measurements, remote sensing, and modeling.New hydrological insights for the region : Following a description of the context of the Moroccan Atlas Mountains and the experimental network, an overview of the main results obtained is presented: the characterization of the spatiotemporal dynamics of snow cover; the impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation on the snow-covered area; the snowmelt contribution to the flows of the Atlas rivers; the contribution of snowmelt to surface and groundwater recharge and the quantification of climate change impacts on snow and associated runoff from the Atlas Mountains. We also present challenges and future research perspectives within this topic.