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Progress in Physical Geography
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Snowmelt runoff models

R. I. Ferguson

Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK

Models that predict meltwater runoff at a daily timescale are important in water resource management, flood hazard assessment and climate-change impact studies. This article identifies four basic components of such models: meteorological extrapolation, snowmelt estimation at a point, snow-cover depletion and runoff routing. Alternative ways of handling these are discussed, with emphasis on the contrasting treatments in two widely used models: HBV and SRM. Many of the issues in meltwater modelling reflect wider debates in hydrological and environmental modelling, including problems of complexity vs. simplicity, the appropriate level of spatial disaggregation, parameter identification and calibration, and internal validation. In reviewing current trends emphasis is placed on the potential and limitations of fully distributed models, problems in using energy-balance rather than temperature-index melt models at basin scale, ways to deal with spatial variability in snow cover, and the value and limitations of earth observation data.

Key Words: disaggregation • earth observation • meltwater • modelling • parameterization • snow cover • snow water equivalent • validation

Progress in Physical Geography, Vol. 23, No. 2, 205-227 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/030913339902300203
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C. A. Day
Modelling impacts of climate change on snowmelt runoff generation and streamflow across western US mountain basins: a review of techniques and applications for water resource management
Progress in Physical Geography, October 1, 2009; 33(5): 614 - 633.
[Abstract] [PDF]