Since 2002, global snow water equivalent (SWE) estimates have been generated using Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E)/Aqua data. Accurate estimates of SWE are important to improve monitoring and managing of water resources in specific regions. SWE and snow map product accuracy are functions of topography and of land cover type because landscape characteristics have a strong influen...

Papers published in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions are under open-access review for the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Abstract The snow accumulation and melt processes are well known to play an important role on the river flow regime, in particular this is enhanced for basin with complex topography where the snow dynamic is strongly affected by hillslope expositio...

A continuously running hydrological energy balance model was used to analyse the influence of different snow covers on the formation of large floods within glacierized catchments. Model outputs from three different catchments in the Austrian Alps with glacierizations ranging from 30 to 39 % were statistically interpreted to cover a wide range of possible combinations of areal snow cover distrib...

Sintering rates in snow were investigated by measuring changes in penetration resistance with time and by using a numerical snow metamorphism model. Periodic Snow Micro Penetrometer (SMP) measurements were performed on uniform snow samples covering a wide range of densities. The mean penetration resistance of snow increased with time according to a power law with an average exponent of 0.18. Si...

This study investigated variability and trends in the annual snow cover cycle in regions covering high latitude and high elevation land areas in the Northern Hemisphere. The annual snow cover cycle was examined with respect to the week of the last observed snow cover in spring (WLS), the week of the first observed snow cover autumn (WFS), and the duration of the snow-free period (DSF). The anal...

Blowing snow and snow drifts are common features in the Arctic. Due to sparse vegetation, low temperatures and high wind speeds, the snow is constantly moving. This causes severe problems for transportation and infrastructure in the affected areas. To minimise the effect of drifting snow already in the designing phase of new structures, adequate models have to be developed and tested. In this s...

Snow on the ground impacts climate through its high albedo and affects atmospheric composition through its ability to adsorb chemical compounds. The quantification of these effects requires the knowledge of the specific surface area (SSA) of snow and its rate of change. All relevant studies indicate that snow SSA decreases over time. Here, we report for the first time three cases where the SSA ...

This study presents a new method to analyse some parameters of snow in alpine region: density, wetness. Here are developed the methodology and first results obtained from a set of ASAR-ENVISAT images registered during 2004 spring period over an experimental river basin located in the French Alps (N 45° 05’/ E 6° 10’). For ENVISAT/ASAR data, a topographic processing is done using a Digital Eleva...

[1] We present experimental results on the snow drift in a turbulent boundary layer over a flat fresh snow-covered surface. Vertical profiles of mass flux and of the distribution of particle diameters were obtained by means of a pair of Snow Particle Counters parallel with measurements of the stream-wise velocity profile. The aim of the paper is to discuss current parameterizations of the verti...

A large-scale nuclear war would inject smoke into the atmosphere from burning forests, cities, and industries in targeted areas. This smoke could fall out onto snow and ice and would lower cryospherie albedos by as much as 50%. A global energy balance elimate model is used to investigate the maximum effect these "dirty snow" albedos have on the surface temperature in nuclear winter simulations ...