Effect of snow on mountain river regimes: an example from the Pyrenees

Sanmiguel‐Vallelado, Alba; Morán-Tejéda, Enrique; Alonso‐González, Esteban; López‐Moreno, Juan I.

doi:10.1007/s11707-016-0630-z

Cited by 23 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 63 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These results confirm that, although others factors (e.g. variability in seasonal precipitation) may greatly affect the timing of river flows in snow-fed rivers (Sanmiguel-Vallelado et al 2017), there is a clear correspondence between the observed increase in temperature and the early occurrence of the spring peak in Pyrenean rivers. This process in not exclusive of the Pyrenees, and has been observed in rivers of snow-dominated regions around the globe, including the Rocky Mountains (Stewart et al 2005), or New England (Hodgkins et al 2003) in the United Sates, or the Swiss Alps in Europe (Birsan et al 2005).…”

Section: Streamflow Changessupporting

confidence: 80%

Changes in Climate, Snow and Water Resources in the Spanish Pyrenees: Observations and Projections in a Warming Climate

Morán-Tejéda

López‐Moreno

Sanmiguel‐Vallelado

2017

High Mountain Conservation in a Changing World

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Pyrenees constitute one of the greatest sources of freshwater in the Spanish territory, but, like many other mountain systems in the world, they are subject to environmental changes that ultimately affect the availability of water resources in areas downstream. In this study, we offer an assessment of hydrological changes in the Pyrenees, from a warming climate perspective, including climate and snow cover trends, changes in the timing of river flows, and future changes under climate change scenarios. Overall, we found that increasing temperatures are responsible for a lesser accumulation of snow over time, although with spatial differences. As a consequence, the occurrence of spring flows (that largely depend on snowmelt) on the studied rivers, has shifted earlier by approximately one month (from mid-June to mid-May). Future projections, which are made by coupling regional climate models outputs and hydrological modelling, indicate that observed decrease in snow accumulation and shifts in streamflow timing will exacerbate in a warmer short-term future (2050). The amount of water yields will not change significantly, only will suffer a slight decrease due to increased evapotranspiration. Observed and projected hydrological changes must be considered by water managers and environmental technicians if a sustainable management of the water resource and the mountain territory is to be done.

show abstract

Section: Streamflow Changessupporting

confidence: 80%

Changes in Climate, Snow and Water Resources in the Spanish Pyrenees: Observations and Projections in a Warming Climate

Morán-Tejéda

López‐Moreno

Sanmiguel‐Vallelado

2017

High Mountain Conservation in a Changing World

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Continental Spain has a mean elevation of 600 m a.s.l., with several mountain systems depicting permanent winter snowfields and an important contribution of snow to the hydrological cycle [24][25][26][27]. The hydrological role of snow in Spanish mountains has been receiving scientific attention over the last two decades [26][27][28][29]. However, the role of snowmelt on the amplification of the damaging nature of floods has been considered marginal, or has not received proper evaluation [19,30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Considering the abovementioned research gap and the new snow dataset for the Spanish mountains [32], the aim of this paper is to determine the main drivers of major floods in mountain rivers in Spain. Specifically, the objectives of the research are (1) to determine whether the major floods are derived from rain, snowmelt, or a combination of rain and snowmelt; (2) to quantify the relative contribution of each on the total flooding streamflow; (3) to explore the main characteristics of the floods hydrographs [27,28] according to the relative contribution of rainfall and snowmelt and (4) to determine whether the geographical characteristics of the catchments, and atmospheric circulation over the Iberian region can explain the relative importance of rainfall and snowmelt in triggering major floods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydro-Meteorological Characterization of Major Floods in Spanish Mountain Rivers

Morán-Tejéda

Fassnacht

Lorenzo‐Lacruz

et al. 2019

Water

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

“…At this elevation, snowpack occurs for at least 4 months of the year (López-Moreno et al, 2011) making it a critical resource for water management in the largest hydrological basins (Morán-Tejeda et al, 2014). Snowpack influences the interannual variability of water resources (López-Moreno and García-Ruiz, 2004) and the timing of the winter low flows and spring peak flows (Sanmiguel-Vallelado et al, 2017). Moreover, winter tourism (mainly skiing) has been increasingly important to the economy of mountain valleys in recent decades, and the large interannual fluctuations of snowpack in the different mountain regions of the Iberian Peninsula affect the economic viability of tourism (Gilaberte-Búrdalo et al, 2014, 2017.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Daily gridded datasets of snow depth and snow water equivalent for the Iberian Peninsula from 1980 to 2014

Alonso‐González

López‐Moreno

Gascoin

et al. 2018

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. We present snow observations and a validated daily gridded snowpack dataset that was simulated from downscaled reanalysis of data for the Iberian Peninsula. The Iberian Peninsula has long-lasting seasonal snowpacks in its different mountain ranges, and winter snowfall occurs in most of its area. However, there are only limited direct observations of snow depth (SD) and snow water equivalent (SWE), making it difficult to analyze snow dynamics and the spatiotemporal patterns of snowfall. We used meteorological data from downscaled reanalyses as input of a physically based snow energy balance model to simulate SWE and SD over the Iberian Peninsula from 1980 to 2014. More specifically, the ERA-Interim reanalysis was downscaled to 10 km × 10 km resolution using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The WRF outputs were used directly, or as input to other submodels, to obtain data needed to drive the Factorial Snow Model (FSM). We used lapse rate coefficients and hygrobarometric adjustments to simulate snow series at 100 m elevations bands for each 10 km × 10 km grid cell in the Iberian Peninsula. The snow series were validated using data from MODIS satellite sensor and ground observations. The overall simulated snow series accurately reproduced the interannual variability of snowpack and the spatial variability of snow accumulation and melting, even in very complex topographic terrains. Thus, the presented dataset may be useful for many applications, including land management, hydrometeorological studies, phenology of flora and fauna, winter tourism, and risk management. The data presented here are freely available for download from Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.854618). This paper fully describes the work flow, data validation, uncertainty assessment, and possible applications and limitations of the database.

show abstract

Effect of snow on mountain river regimes: an example from the Pyrenees

Cited by 23 publications

References 63 publications

Changes in Climate, Snow and Water Resources in the Spanish Pyrenees: Observations and Projections in a Warming Climate

Changes in Climate, Snow and Water Resources in the Spanish Pyrenees: Observations and Projections in a Warming Climate

Hydro-Meteorological Characterization of Major Floods in Spanish Mountain Rivers

Daily gridded datasets of snow depth and snow water equivalent for the Iberian Peninsula from 1980 to 2014

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About