DOI: 10.5194/hess-20-859-2016
Scopus记录号: 2-s2.0-84959237736
论文题名: Importance of maximum snow accumulation for summer low flows in humid catchments
作者: Jenicek M ; , Seibert J ; , Zappa M ; , Staudinger M ; , Jonas T
刊名: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
ISSN: 10275606
出版年: 2016
卷: 20, 期: 2 起始页码: 859
结束页码: 874
语种: 英语
Scopus关键词: Catchments
; Climate change
; Groundwater
; Snow
; Snow melting systems
; Alpine catchments
; Catchment runoffs
; Climate change impact
; Groundwater storage
; Interannual variation
; Snow accumulation
; Snow water equivalent
; Winter snow accumulation
; Runoff
; air temperature
; annual variation
; catchment
; climate change
; low flow
; meltwater
; peak discharge
; runoff
; snow accumulation
; snowmelt
; summer
; Alps
; Switzerland
英文摘要: Winter snow accumulation obviously has an effect on the following catchment runoff. The question is, however, how long this effect lasts and how important it is compared to rainfall inputs. Here we investigate the relative importance of snow accumulation on one critical aspect of runoff, namely the summer low flow. This is especially relevant as the expected increase of air temperature might result in decreased snow storage. A decrease of snow will affect soil and groundwater storages during spring and might cause low streamflow values in the subsequent warm season. To understand these potential climate change impacts, a better evaluation of the effects of inter-annual variations in snow accumulation on summer low flow under current conditions is central. The objective in this study was (1) to quantify how long snowmelt affects runoff after melt-out and (2) to estimate the sensitivity of catchments with different elevation ranges to changes in snowpack. To find suitable predictors of summer low flow we used long time series from 14 Alpine and pre-Alpine catchments in Switzerland and computed different variables quantifying winter and spring snow conditions. In general, the results indicated that maximum winter snow water equivalent (SWE) influenced summer low flow, but could expectedly only partly explain the observed inter-annual variations. On average, a decrease of maximum SWE by 10% caused a decrease of minimum discharge in July by 6-9% in catchments higher than 2000ma.s.l. This effect was smaller in middle- and lower-elevation catchments with a decrease of minimum discharge by 2-5% per 10% decrease of maximum SWE. For higher- and middle-elevation catchments and years with below-average SWE maximum, the minimum discharge in July decreased to 70-90% of its normal level. Additionally, a reduction in SWE resulted in earlier low-flow occurrence in some cases. One other important factor was the precipitation between maximum SWE and summer low flow. When only dry preceding conditions in this period were considered, the importance of maximum SWE as a predictor of low flows increased. We assessed the sensitivity of individual catchments to the change of maximum SWE using the non-parametric Theil-Sen approach as well as an elasticity index. Both sensitivity indicators increased with increasing mean catchment elevation, indicating a higher sensitivity of summer low flow to snow accumulation in Alpine catchments compared to lower-elevation pre-Alpine catchments. © Author(s) 2016. Citation statistics:
资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/78907
Appears in Collections: 气候变化事实与影响
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作者单位: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science, Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Prague, Czech Republic; University of Zurich, Department of Geography, Zurich, Switzerland; Uppsala University, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden; Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland; WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland
Recommended Citation:
Jenicek M,, Seibert J,, Zappa M,et al. Importance of maximum snow accumulation for summer low flows in humid catchments[J]. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences,2016-01-01,20(2)