Articles | Volume 24, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4441-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4441-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
15 Sep 2020
Research article |
| 15 Sep 2020
| 15 Sep 2020
Assessing the degree of detail of temperature-based snow routines for runoff modelling in mountainous areas in central Europe
Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8006,
Switzerland
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Norrköping,
60176, Sweden
Marc J. P. Vis
Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8006,
Switzerland
Michal Jenicek
Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Charles University, Prague, 12843, Czechia
Nena Griessinger
WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, 7260,
Switzerland
Jan Seibert
Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8006,
Switzerland
Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, 75007, Sweden
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Short summary
Snow processes are crucial for runoff in mountainous areas, but their complexity makes water management difficult. Temperature models are widely used as they are simple and do not require much data, but not much thought is usually given to which model to use, which may lead to bad predictions. We studied the impact of many model alternatives and found that a more complex model does not necessarily perform better. Finding which processes are most important in each area is a much better strategy.
Snow processes are crucial for runoff in mountainous areas, but their complexity makes water...
