Improvements in Sub-Catchment Fractional Snowpack and Snowmelt Parameterizations and Hydrologic Modeling for Climate Change Assessments in the Western Himalayas

The present work proposes to improve estimates of snowpack and snowmelt their assessment in the steep Himalayan ranges at sub-catchment scale. Temporal variability streamflow associated distribution accumulated snow catchments with glacier presence Himalayas illustrates how changes can affect water supply for local management. primary objective this study is assess role elevation, temperature lapse rate (TLR), precipitation (PLR) computation (or snowfall) sub-catchments Satluj River basin. Modeling was constructed using Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) both historical (1991–2008) near-time scenarios (2011–2030) by implementing real-time hydrometeorological, snow-hydrological parameters, Global Circulation Model (GCM) datasets. modeled snowmelt-induced showed a good agreement observed (~60%), calibrated validated three gauges. A Sequential Uncertainty Parameter Fitting (SUFI2) method resulted that curve number (CN2) found be significantly sensitive during calibration. hydrological parameters such as factor maximum (SMFMX) coverage (SNO50COV) affected functions, R2 NSE, model optimization. For validation snowmelt, results have been contrasted previous studies comparable. computed were highly variable over sub-catchments, also reported researchers. magnitude change consistently decreases across all river catchment (varying between 4% 42%). highest percentage high-elevation sub-catchments.