How much runoff originates as snow in the western United States, and how will that change in the future?

Li, Dongyue; Wrzesien, Melissa L.; Durand, Michael; Adam, J. C.; Lettenmaier, Dennis P.

doi:10.1002/2017gl073551

Cited by 291 publications

(262 citation statements)

References 74 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…This enhanced snow proportion in groundwater is a good explanation for the proportionally higher snow contributions to streamflow as noted in several studies (Li, Wrzesien, Durand, Adam, & Lettenmaier, 2017). This might especially be the case in higher elevation areas where shallow groundwater is critical for streamflow generation.…”

Section: Rain-on-snowmentioning

confidence: 69%

Understanding snow hydrological processes through the lens of stable water isotopes

Beria¹,

Larsen²,

Ceperley³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Snowfall may have different stable isotopic compositions compared with rainfall, allowing its contribution to potentially be tracked through the hydrological cycle. This review summarizes the state of knowledge of how different hydrometeorological processes affect the isotopic composition of snow in its different forms (snowfall, snowpack, and snowmelt), and, through selected examples, discusses how stable water isotopes can provide a better understanding of snow hydrological processes. A detailed account is given of how the variability in isotopic composition of snow changes from precipitation to final melting. The effect of different snow ablation processes (sublimation, melting, and redistribution by wind or avalanches) on the isotope ratios of the underlying snowpack are also examined. Insights into the role of canopy in snow interception processes, and how the isotopic composition in canopy underlying snowpacks can elucidate the exchanges therein are discussed, as well as case studies demonstrating the usefulness of stable water isotopes to estimate seasonality in the groundwater recharge. Rain-on-snow floods illustrate how isotopes can be useful to estimate the role of preferential flow during heavy spring rains. All these examples point to the complexity of snow hydrologic processes and demonstrate that an isotopic approach is useful to quantify snow contributions throughout the water cycle, especially in high-elevation and highlatitude catchments, where such processes are most pronounced. This synthesis concludes by tracing a snow particle along its entire hydrologic life cycle, highlights the major practical challenges remaining in snow hydrology and discusses future research directions.

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Section: Rain-on-snowmentioning

confidence: 69%

Understanding snow hydrological processes through the lens of stable water isotopes

Beria¹,

Larsen²,

Ceperley³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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show abstract

“…It is affected both by natural factors, such as the precipitation system, soil state, and land surface, and by human factors, including land use changes and water use efficiency. Because of the considerable reliance of the WUS on snow as a water resource, snow accumulation represents a factor of first-order importance regarding regional water supply [10]. Snowmelt contributes approximately 50%-80% of the total streamflow and is highly seasonal in nature, that is, the majority of streamflow occurs because of snowmelt during the late spring-summer (April-July) [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Compared with such ratio metrics, the following methods are considered more reasonable. Li et al [10] quantified f snow by tracking the fate of snowmelt in modeled hydrologic fluxes and obtained gridded model results. rough calculations of the long-term probability of snowmelt pulse occurrence (i.e., if the snowmelt pulse occurred during the period between the 150th day and the 250th day of the water year), Fritze et al [35] divided streamflow sites into four categories: clearly rain dominated, mostly rain dominated, mostly snowmelt dominated, and clearly snowmelt dominated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, because the contributions of rain-derived runoff (also called rainfall contribution, referred to as f rain hereafter) and of snow-derived runoff to the total runoff (also called snowpack contribution, referred to as f snow hereafter) are different in each area; both f rain and f snow have different contributions to streamflow. Previous studies focused primarily on f snow [10]. In addition, in most of those studies, f snow was calculated based on metrics such as the total snowfall as a fraction of total precipitation, the total snowfall as a fraction of total runoff, or melt season runoff as a fraction of total annual runoff [26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predictive Contributions of Snowmelt and Rainfall to Streamflow Variations in the Western United States

Zheng

Wang

Li-hua

et al. 2018

Advances in Meteorology

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is study used long-term in situ rainfall, snow, and streamflow data to explore the predictive contributions of snowmelt and rainfall to streamflow in six watersheds over the Western United States. Analysis showed that peak snow accumulation, snow-free day, and snowmelt slope all had strong correlation with peak streamflow, particularly in inland basins. Further analysis revealed that the variation of snow accumulation anomaly had strong lead correlation with the variation of streamflow anomaly. Over the entire Western United States, inner mountain areas had lead times of 4-10 pentads. However, in coastal areas, nearly all sites had lead times of less than one pentad. e relative contributions of rainfall and snowmelt to streamflow in different watersheds were calculated based on the snow lead time. e geographic distribution of annual relative contributions revealed that interior areas were dominated by snowmelt contribution, whereas the rainfall contribution dominated coastal areas. In the wet season, the snowmelt contribution increased in the western Pacific Northwest, whereas the rainfall contribution increased in the southeastern Pacific Northwest, southern Upper Colorado, and northern Rio Grande regions. e derived results demonstrated the predictive contributions of snowmelt and rainfall to streamflow. ese findings could be considered a reference both for seasonal predictions of streamflow and for prevention of hydrological disasters. Furthermore, they will be helpful in the evaluation and improvement of hydrological and climate models.

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“…In the western US, snowmelt accounts for 53% of total runoff (70% for mountainous regions) (Li et al, 2017) and it is estimated that approximately one-sixth of the world's population resides in snow-dominated regions that rely on fresh water supplied by seasonal runoff (Barnett et al, 2005). During spring runoff, water resource and irrigation managers, in regulated basins, must balance the need of capturing water for use in summer months when demand is high and precipitation is nominal with maintaining adequate storage space for peak flows produced by heavy melt and/or spring rainstorms.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

From Snow to Flow: Exploring Relationships Between SNOTEL Ablation Curves and Peak Streamflow Timing

Ferguson¹

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historic snow and streamflow data from 14 river basins throughout Idaho to investigate the relationship between snowmelt timing at SNOw TELemetry (SNOTEL) sites and peak streamflow within each basin. The goal is to provide a simple operational tool that estimates the probability of peak streamflow occurring within a certain number of days as ablation progresses from 0 to 100% melted. For individual basins we evaluate meltout levels in increments of 10% from each SNOTEL site and use a probabilistic modeling approach to create cumulative distribution function (CDF) curves which illustrate the probability of peak streamflow occurring within a given number of days from the date at which the SNOTEL site reaches each meltout percentage. Results from the CDF probability model graphs also provide basic information about basin specific anecdotal indices or "rules of thumb" for when peak streamflow will occur based on the average percent meltout at the time of peak streamflow. Compiled historical datasets with summary statistics for 54 SNOTEL-streamgage pairs of multiple snowmelt and streamflow metrics add to the body of knowledge of hydrologic processes for basins throughout Idaho. In addition, our analysis reveals how melt timing has a greater influence on the timing of peak streamflow than does the timing or magnitude of maximum accumulation (max SWE) and how the larger snowpack (magnitude of max SWE) often have few lag days between each meltout percentage and peak streamflow.

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How much runoff originates as snow in the western United States, and how will that change in the future?

Cited by 291 publications

References 74 publications

Understanding snow hydrological processes through the lens of stable water isotopes

Understanding snow hydrological processes through the lens of stable water isotopes

Predictive Contributions of Snowmelt and Rainfall to Streamflow Variations in the Western United States

From Snow to Flow: Exploring Relationships Between SNOTEL Ablation Curves and Peak Streamflow Timing

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