Can streamflow observations constrain snow mass reconstructions? Lessons from two synthetic numerical experiments

Wiersma, Pau; Magnusson, Jan; Peleg, Nadav; Schaefli, Bettina; Mariethoz, Gregoire

doi:10.5194/hess-30-3331-2026

Articles | Volume 30, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3331-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3331-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 30, issue 10

Research article

|

28 May 2026

Research article |

| 28 May 2026

Can streamflow observations constrain snow mass reconstructions? Lessons from two synthetic numerical experiments

Pau Wiersma, Jan Magnusson, Nadav Peleg, Bettina Schaefli, and Gregoire Mariethoz

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-3331-2026-supplement

Data sets

Data and Code accompanying ``Can streamflow constrain snow mass reconstructions? Lessons from two synthetic numerical experiments'' P. Wiersma https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16146617

Model code and software

Data and Code accompanying ``Can streamflow constrain snow mass reconstructions? Lessons from two synthetic numerical experiments'' Pau Wiersma https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16146617

Wflow.jl (v1.0.0-rc1) W. van Verseveld et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15722493

eWaterCycle Python package (2.4.0) S. Verhoeven et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14275521

Short summary

Streamflow observations contain information about snow, but their potential to constrain seasonal snow mass reconstructions remains underexplored. Using inverse hydrological modeling, we show that streamflow is particularly effective at constraining catchment-aggregated melt rates, but that non-uniqueness in the snow–streamflow relationship and uncertainties in the inverse modeling chain can easily limit inversion performance.