Analysis and Predictability of the Hydrological Response of Mountain Catchments to Heavy Rain on Snow Events: A Case Study in the Spanish Pyrenees

Corripio, Javier G.; López‐Moreno, Juan I.

doi:10.3390/hydrology4020020

Cited by 27 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…Our finding that net radiation is responsible for slightly more ROS snowmelt in the western United States than turbulent heat fluxes is consistent with the conclusion in Mazurkiewicz et al (2008), but differs with other studies (e.g., Corripio & López-Moreno, 2017;Marks et al, 1998) that find that turbulent heat fluxes dominate. The difference between our study and those referenced above may be explained by the fact that we investigate ROS with a different perspective.…”

Section: /2019wr024950supporting

confidence: 70%

The Role of Rain‐on‐Snow in Flooding Over the Conterminous United States

Lettenmaier

Margulis

et al. 2019

Water Resources Research

106

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Based on a process‐level modeling of the rain‐on‐snow (ROS) events in the period of 1950 to 2013 and in a warmer climate, we quantify the historical and future runoff contribution from ROS to extreme floods and the source of runoff and snowmelt in large ROS events within the conterminous United States (CONUS). We find that the regions impacted most heavily by ROS include the West Coast, the major mountain ranges of the western interior, the Upper Midwest, the Northeast, and the lower Appalachians. While 70% of extreme (upper 0.1%) runoff events in these regions have some contribution from ROS, the runoff generated during these ROS events accounts for less than 10% of the total extreme flood runoff; the much larger fraction of extreme runoff is from either intense rainfall or clear‐sky snowmelt. Rainfall is the dominant source of runoff in ROS events along the West Coast and over the west‐facing slopes of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada, while snowmelt dominates ROS runoff in the other regions in the CONUS. Net radiation dominates the snowmelt during ROS in the high mountains in the West, while net radiation and turbulent heat flux are equally dominant in the rest of CONUS. Historically, the role of ROS in streamflow extremes is most significant in midelevation areas, but this “significant influence zone” will shift to higher elevations in a warmer future. The future ROS frequency changes exert a first order control on the future change of the runoff contribution from ROS to extreme floods.

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Section: /2019wr024950supporting

confidence: 70%

The Role of Rain‐on‐Snow in Flooding Over the Conterminous United States

Lettenmaier

Margulis

et al. 2019

Water Resources Research

106

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“…During a ROS, the addition of snowmelt water to the water from rainfall is an important contributor or even the triggering mechanism of floods in temperate and cold environments. Such is the case of mountains in North America [10,15,59], and the Alps [12], or the Pyrenees [14] in Europe. Moreover, the antecedent soil moisture is usually higher on snow-covered slopes from the infiltration of meltwater into the soil during the snow season, further facilitating the occurrence of a flood during a ROS event [11].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The warmer than freezing air temperature that causes precipitation to fall in a liquid state may melt snow, and that meltwater combined with the water from rainfall can trigger increased surface runoff and as a consequence flooding. While a ROS does not necessarily generate river flooding, major floods associated with ROS have been reported in the mountains of Western United States [9,10], in Southern Germany [11], Switzerland [12], Austria [13], the Spanish Pyrenees [14], or the Canadian Rockies [15]. Morán-Tejeda et al [16] demonstrated the relevance of elevation and seasonality for ROS to occur; in Switzerland they peak at elevations between 800-1200 m in winter and between 1800-2600 m in spring and summer, highlighting the importance of considering snowmelt, together with the amount of rain, when forecasting river flooding in mountain areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is in part due to the difficulty in quantifying the volume of snow accumulated in the mountains and its water content. Only recently has attention been put on the role of snowmelt, due to the damaging floods that have occurred in the Ebro River during warm spells over the last two decades [14,31]. This was thanks to techniques that allow a reasonable estimation of the quantity of water in the snowpack, including remote sensing and modeling approaches.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hydro-Meteorological Characterization of Major Floods in Spanish Mountain Rivers

Morán-Tejéda

Fassnacht

Lorenzo‐Lacruz

et al. 2019

Water

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Spain, one of the most mountainous countries in Europe, suffers from frequent river flooding due to specific climatic and topographic features. Many headwaters of the largest rivers in Spain are located in mountainous areas of mid-to-high elevation. These include the Pyrenees, the Central System, and the Cantabrian mountains, that have a sustained snowpack during the winter months. Most previous research on flood generation in Spain has focused on intense rainfall events, and the role of snowmelt has been ignored or considered marginal. In this paper we present a regional-scale study to quantify the relative importance of rainfall versus snowmelt in the largest floods recorded in mountain rivers in Spain during the last decades (1980–2014). We further analyzed whether catchments characteristics and weather types may favor the occurrence of rainfall or snowmelt induced floods. Results show that in 53% of the 250 analyzed floods the contribution of rainfall was larger than 90%, and in the rest of events snowmelt contribution was larger than 10%. Floods where snowmelt was the main contributor represented only 5% of the total events. The average contribution of snowmelt represents 18% of total runoff in floods that were analyzed. The role of snowmelt in floods, rather than triggering the event, was usually amplifying the duration of the event, especially after the peak flow was reached. In general, the importance of snowmelt in floods is greater in catchments with characteristics that favor snow accumulation. However, this does not apply to floods where contribution of snowmelt was larger than 90%, which tend to occur at catchments at mid-elevations that accumulate unusual amounts of snow that melt rapidly. Floods were more frequent under both cyclonic and anticyclonic synoptic situations over the Iberian Peninsula, as well as under advection of western and eastern flows. Our results contribute to the ongoing improvement of knowledge about the role of snow in the hydrology of Spanish rivers and on the importance of mountain processes on the hydrology of downstream areas.

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“…Other authors focus their research on the forecasting of melting processes and their consequences. Corripio and López-Moreno [35] performs prediction studies about thawing processes happening in the Spanish Pyrenean chain, which is the research location area of our article. In other cases, the studies focus on urbanized areas such as that of Berezowski and Chybicki [36], where the effect of snow melting on discharge forecasts is highlighted by carrying out a study in an urbanized basin clearly influenced by snow processes increasing the runoff.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Role of Snowmelt in a Flood Event in a Gauged Catchment

Mateo-Lázaro

Castillo-Mateo

Navarro

et al. 2019

Water

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An actual event that happened in the Roncal valley (Spain) is investigated and the results are compared between models with and without snowmelt. A distributed rainfall model is generated with the specific data recorded by the rain gauges of the catchment during the episode. To describe the process of water routing in the hydrological cycle of the basin, a model is used based on combinations of parallel linear reservoirs (PLR model), distribution by the basin, and tip-out into its drainage network configured using a digital terrain model (DTM). This PLR model allows simulation of the different actual reservoirs of the basin, including the snow and the contribution due to its melting which, in the model, depends on the temperature. The PLR model also allows for a water budget of the episode where, in addition to the effective rainfall contribution, the water that comes from the thaw is taken into account. The PLR model also allows determination of the amount of water that exists in the basin before and after the episode, data of great interest. When comparing the simulations with and without taking into account the thawing process, it is evident that the intervention of the snow reservoir has been decisive in causing a flood to occur.

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Analysis and Predictability of the Hydrological Response of Mountain Catchments to Heavy Rain on Snow Events: A Case Study in the Spanish Pyrenees

Cited by 27 publications

References 81 publications

The Role of Rain‐on‐Snow in Flooding Over the Conterminous United States

The Role of Rain‐on‐Snow in Flooding Over the Conterminous United States

Hydro-Meteorological Characterization of Major Floods in Spanish Mountain Rivers

Assessment of the Role of Snowmelt in a Flood Event in a Gauged Catchment

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