Comparison of modeled snow properties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan

Ice and snowmelt feed the Indus River and Amu Darya in western High Mountain Asia, yet there are limited in situ measurements of these resources. Previous work in the region has shown promise using snow water equivalent (SWE) reconstruction, which requires no in situ measurements, but validation has...

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Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: Bair, Edward H., Rittger, Karl, Ahmad, Jawairia A., Chabot, Doug
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-331-2020
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spelling ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00050449 2023-05-15T18:32:33+02:00 Comparison of modeled snow properties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan Bair, Edward H. Rittger, Karl Ahmad, Jawairia A. Chabot, Doug 2020-01 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-331-2020 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00050449 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00050058/tc-14-331-2020.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/331/2020/tc-14-331-2020.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-331-2020 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00050449 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00050058/tc-14-331-2020.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/331/2020/tc-14-331-2020.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC-BY article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2020 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-331-2020 2022-02-08T22:36:51Z Ice and snowmelt feed the Indus River and Amu Darya in western High Mountain Asia, yet there are limited in situ measurements of these resources. Previous work in the region has shown promise using snow water equivalent (SWE) reconstruction, which requires no in situ measurements, but validation has been a problem. However, recently we were provided with daily manual snow depth measurements from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan by the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH). To validate SWE reconstruction, at each station, accumulated precipitation and SWE were derived from snow depth using the numerical snow cover model SNOWPACK. High-resolution (500 m) reconstructed SWE estimates from the Parallel Energy Balance Model (ParBal) were then compared to the modeled SWE at the stations. The Alpine3D model was then used to create spatial estimates at 25 km resolution to compare with estimates from other snow models. Additionally, the coupled SNOWPACK and Alpine3D system has the advantage of simulating snow profiles, which provides stability information. The median number of critical layers and percentage of faceted layers across all of the pixels containing the AKAH stations were computed. For SWE at the point scale, the reconstructed estimates showed a bias of −42 mm (−19 %) at peak SWE. For the coarser spatial SWE estimates, the various models showed a wide range, with reconstruction being on the lower end. A heavily faceted snowpack was observed in both years, but 2018, a dry year, according to most of the models, showed more critical layers that persisted for a longer period. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA The Cryosphere 14 1 331 347
institution Open Polar
collection Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA
op_collection_id ftnonlinearchiv
language English
topic article
Verlagsveröffentlichung
spellingShingle article
Verlagsveröffentlichung
Bair, Edward H.
Rittger, Karl
Ahmad, Jawairia A.
Chabot, Doug
Comparison of modeled snow properties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan
topic_facet article
Verlagsveröffentlichung
description Ice and snowmelt feed the Indus River and Amu Darya in western High Mountain Asia, yet there are limited in situ measurements of these resources. Previous work in the region has shown promise using snow water equivalent (SWE) reconstruction, which requires no in situ measurements, but validation has been a problem. However, recently we were provided with daily manual snow depth measurements from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan by the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH). To validate SWE reconstruction, at each station, accumulated precipitation and SWE were derived from snow depth using the numerical snow cover model SNOWPACK. High-resolution (500 m) reconstructed SWE estimates from the Parallel Energy Balance Model (ParBal) were then compared to the modeled SWE at the stations. The Alpine3D model was then used to create spatial estimates at 25 km resolution to compare with estimates from other snow models. Additionally, the coupled SNOWPACK and Alpine3D system has the advantage of simulating snow profiles, which provides stability information. The median number of critical layers and percentage of faceted layers across all of the pixels containing the AKAH stations were computed. For SWE at the point scale, the reconstructed estimates showed a bias of −42 mm (−19 %) at peak SWE. For the coarser spatial SWE estimates, the various models showed a wide range, with reconstruction being on the lower end. A heavily faceted snowpack was observed in both years, but 2018, a dry year, according to most of the models, showed more critical layers that persisted for a longer period.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Bair, Edward H.
Rittger, Karl
Ahmad, Jawairia A.
Chabot, Doug
author_facet Bair, Edward H.
Rittger, Karl
Ahmad, Jawairia A.
Chabot, Doug
author_sort Bair, Edward H.
title Comparison of modeled snow properties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan
title_short Comparison of modeled snow properties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan
title_full Comparison of modeled snow properties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan
title_fullStr Comparison of modeled snow properties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan
title_full_unstemmed Comparison of modeled snow properties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan
title_sort comparison of modeled snow properties in afghanistan, pakistan, and tajikistan
publisher Copernicus Publications
publishDate 2020
url https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-331-2020
https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00050449
https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00050058/tc-14-331-2020.pdf
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/331/2020/tc-14-331-2020.pdf
genre The Cryosphere
genre_facet The Cryosphere
op_relation The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-331-2020
https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00050449
https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00050058/tc-14-331-2020.pdf
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/331/2020/tc-14-331-2020.pdf
op_rights https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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container_title The Cryosphere
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