Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
Contribution of soil moisture information to streamflow prediction in the snowmelt season: a continental-scale analysis
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Lettenmaier Sr., Dennis Koster, Randal Reichle, Rolf Mahanama, Sarith |
| Copyright Year | 2009 |
| Description | In areas dominated by winter snowcover, the prediction of streamflow during the snowmelt season may benefit from three pieces of information: (i) the accurate prediction of weather variability (precipitation, etc.) leading up to and during the snowmelt season, (ii) estimates of the amount of snow present during the winter season, and (iii) estimates of the amount of soil moisture underlying the snowpack during the winter season. The importance of accurate meteorological predictions and wintertime snow estimates is obvious. The contribution of soil moisture to streamflow prediction is more subtle yet potentially very important. If the soil is dry below the snowpack, a significant fraction of the snowmelt may be lost to streamflow and potential reservoir storage, since it may infiltrate the soil instead for later evaporation. Such evaporative losses are presumably smaller if the soil below the snowpack is wet. In this paper, we use a state-of-the-art land surface model to quantify the contribution of wintertime snow and soil moisture information -- both together and separately -- to skill in forecasting springtime streamflow. We find that soil moisture information indeed contributes significantly to streamflow prediction skill. |
| File Size | 143242 |
| Page Count | 2 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_20090042731 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t5m956g5x |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 2009-08-24 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Geophysics Drainage Snow Winter Soil Moisture Surface Water Water Flow Evaporation Spring Season Snow Cover Forecasting Rocky Mountains North America Streams Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
