Articles | Volume 23, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-2983-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-2983-2019
Research article
 | 
15 Jul 2019
Research article |  | 15 Jul 2019

Monitoring snowpack outflow volumes and their isotopic composition to better understand streamflow generation during rain-on-snow events

Andrea Rücker, Stefan Boss, James W. Kirchner, and Jana von Freyberg

Related authors

A Tri-National program for estimating the link between snow resources and hydrological droughts
M. Zappa, T. Vitvar, A. Rücker, G. Melikadze, L. Bernhard, V. David, M. Jans-Singh, N. Zhukova, and M. Sanda
Proc. IAHS, 369, 25–30, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-369-25-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-369-25-2015, 2015
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Snow and Ice | Techniques and Approaches: Instruments and observation techniques
Contribution of rock glacier discharge to late summer and fall streamflow in the Uinta Mountains, Utah, USA
Jeffrey S. Munroe and Alexander L. Handwerger
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 543–557, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-543-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-543-2023, 2023
Short summary
Recent evolution and associated hydrological dynamics of a vanishing tropical Andean glacier: Glaciar de Conejeras, Colombia
Enrique Morán-Tejeda, Jorge Luis Ceballos, Katherine Peña, Jorge Lorenzo-Lacruz, and Juan Ignacio López-Moreno
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 5445–5461, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5445-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5445-2018, 2018
Short summary
Rainwater propagation through snowpack during rain-on-snow sprinkling experiments under different snow conditions
Roman Juras, Sebastian Würzer, Jirka Pavlásek, Tomáš Vitvar, and Tobias Jonas
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 4973–4987, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4973-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4973-2017, 2017
Short summary
The importance of snowmelt spatiotemporal variability for isotope-based hydrograph separation in a high-elevation catchment
Jan Schmieder, Florian Hanzer, Thomas Marke, Jakob Garvelmann, Michael Warscher, Harald Kunstmann, and Ulrich Strasser
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 5015–5033, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-5015-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-5015-2016, 2016
Short summary
Dye tracing to determine flow properties of hydrocarbon-polluted Rabots glaciär, Kebnekaise, Sweden
C. C. Clason, C. Coch, J. Jarsjö, K. Brugger, P. Jansson, and G. Rosqvist
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 2701–2715, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2701-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2701-2015, 2015

Cited articles

Ala-aho, P., Tetzlaff, D., McNamara, J. P., Laudon, H., Kormos, P., and Soulsby, C.: Modeling the Isotopic Evolution of Snowpack and Snowmelt: Testing a spatially distributed parsimonious approach, Water Resour. Res., 53, 5813–5830, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR020650, 2017. 
Bales, R. C., Davis, R. E., and Williams, M. W.: Tracer release in melting snow: diurnal and seasonal patterns, Hydrol. Process., 7, 389–401, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.3360070405, 1993. 
Barnett, T. P., Adam, J. C., and Lettenmaier, D. P.: Potential impacts of a warming climate on water availability in snow-dominated regions, Nature, 438, 303–309, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04141, 2005. 
Beaulieu, M., Schreier, H., and Jost, G.: A shifting hydrological regime: A field investigation of snowmelt runoff processes and their connection to summer base flow, Sunshine Coast, British Columbia, Hydrol. Process., 26, 2672–2682, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.9404, 2012. 
Beniston, M. and Stoffel, M.: Rain-on-snow events, floods and climate change in the Alps: Events may increase with warming up to 4 C and decrease thereafter, Sci. Total Environ., 571, 228–236, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.07.146, 2016. 
Download
Short summary
To better understand how rain-on-snow (ROS) events affect snowpack outflow volumes and streamflow generation, we measured snowpack outflow volumes and isotopic composition during 10 ROS events with automated snowmelt lysimeters at three locations in a pre-Alpine catchment. We quantified the spatio-temporal variability of snowpack outflow and its relative contribution to streamflow, and identified rainfall characteristics and initial snow depth as major controls on snow hydrological processes.