Modified Temperature Index Method Using Near-Surface Soil and Air Temperatures for Modeling Snowmelt in the Canadian Prairies
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 10, Issue 5
Abstract
A modified temperature index snowmelt model (SDSM-MTI), based on both near-surface soil temperature and air temperature , was proposed and successfully tested at the Paddle River Basin (PRB) of Alberta. By using a weighted average of and and introducing a melt-rate adjustment factor , SDSM-MTI could simulate more accurate snowmelt runoff, snow water equivalent, and snow depth at PRB than the standard temperature index approach operated either under fixed or seasonally variable melt factor independently calibrated with only. This is partly because at PRB the primary energy fluxes responsible for snowmelt correlate more closely with than , especially at a daily time step, and partly because when , of SDSM-MTI is much less than one that reduces to a very small value, and hence we can more effectively control the timing of major snowmelt for PRB, which usually happens only when .
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Acknowledgments
This research was partly supported by equipment and operating grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada. The first writer was also partly supported by a University of Alberta PhD scholarship, while the third writer was partly supported by a graduate assistantship from the University of Alberta. Alberta Environment provided the snow pillow and streamflow data. The suggestions of three anonymous reviewers have improved the quality of this manuscript.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 10 • Issue 5 • September 2005
Pages: 405 - 419
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 9, 2004
Accepted: Nov 23, 2004
Published online: Sep 1, 2005
Published in print: Sep 2005
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