HR: 0800h
AN: H31D-0636    [Abstracts]
TI: Parameterization of the spatial varaibility of cold season processes in the Midwestern United States
AU: * Cherkauer, K A
EM: cherkaue@purdue.edu
AF: Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University 225 S. University St, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States
AU: Yun-Ting, S
EM: su0@purdue.edu
AF: Civil Engineering, Purdue University 550 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States
AU: Sinha, T
EM: sinhat@purdue.edu
AF: Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University 225 S. University St, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States
AB: The spatial distribution of frozen soil and snow cover at the start of the spring melt season plays an important role in the generation of spring runoff and in the exchange of energy between the land surface and the atmosphere. Infiltration into frozen soils is underestimated by models that simulate uniformly frozen soil. While variability in snow cover, whether from drifting and differences in melt caused by topography and local shading, can lead to a mixture of snow covered and snow free areas during melt. Snow free areas with their lower albedos warm faster in the spring and can contribute to faster melt through the advection of warmer air to neighboring snow covered areas. Algorithms for the representation of spatial variability in snow and soil frost exist in the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, but parameterization has been limited to a single set of observations from central Minnesota. Using field observations, remote sensing and NSIDC snow cover products spatially distributed parameterizations have been developed for the north central United States based on three statistical distributions: uniform, three parameter gamma and three parameter log-normal distribution. These parameterizations are used within the VIC model to study the effect of the selection of distribution type on the performance of the snow and soil frost algorithms.
DE: 1823 Frozen ground
DE: 1847 Modeling
DE: 1855 Remote sensing (1640)
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (0736, 0738, 0776, 1827)
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting