Benefits of Combining Satellite-Derived Snow Cover Data and Discharge Data to Calibrate a Glaciated Catchment in Sub-Arctic Iceland

• Published in: Water
• Main Authors: de Niet, Julia, Finger, David C., Bring, Arvid, Egilson, David, Gustafsson, David, Kalantari, Zahra
• Other Authors: Verkfræðideild (HR), Department of Engineering (RU), Rannsóknarsetur um sjálfbæra þróun (SIF) (HR), Sustainability Institute and Forum (SIF) (RU), Tæknisvið (HR), School of Technology (RU), Háskólinn í Reykjavík, Reykjavik University
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020
• Subjects: Geography; Planning and Development; Aquatic Science; Biochemistry; Water Science and Technology; Glaciated-catchment modeling; Conceptual hydrological model; Multi-dataset calibration; Hydrological predictions for the environment; Geithellnaá; Iceland; Vatnafræði; Líkön; Lífefnafræði; Arctic; Reykjavik University
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/2352; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12040975

Publisher's version (útgefin grein) The benefits of fractional snow cover area, as an additional dataset for calibration, were evaluated for an Icelandic catchment with a low degree of glaciation and limited data. For this purpose, a Hydrological Projections for the Environment (HYPE) model was calibrated for the Geithellnaá catchment in south-east Iceland using daily discharge (Q) data and satellite-retrieved MODIS snow cover (SC) images, in a multi-dataset calibration (MDC) approach. By comparing model results using only daily discharge data with results obtained using both datasets, the value of SC data for model calibration was identified. Including SC data improved the performance of daily discharge simulations by 7% and fractional snow cover area simulations by 11%, compared with using only the daily discharge dataset (SDC). These results indicate that MDC improves the overall performance of the HYPE model, confirming previous findings. Therefore, MDC could improve discharge simulations in areas with extra sources of uncertainty, such as glaciers and snow cover.Since the change in fractional snow cover area was more accurate when MDC was applied, it can be concluded that MDC would also provide more realistic projections when calibrated parameter sets are extrapolated to different situations. This research received no external funding. During the period in which this study was conducted, the authors received funding from their respective institution, namely the Department of Physical Geography (Stockholm University), School of Science and Engineering (Reykjavik University), Sustainability Institute and Forum (Reykjavik University), Bolin Centre for Climate Research (Stockholm University), Icelandic Meteorological Office and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. Peer reviewed