An Evaluation of Regions Effective in Accumulation and Persistence of Snow Cover and Snowmelt Contribution in Runoff

A significant portion of precipitation falls as snow in mountainous regions with the snow melt beingthe main source of water supply in low flow seasons, ground water recharge, and even sometimes the main cause of flooding . Information on the timing, magnitude, and contributing area of snow accumulation and melt is required for successful water resource management. Many studies have indicated that snow cover is an important variable for runoff modeling and forecasting, particularly in mountainous areas. Temporal and spatial variability of snow cover could be known as an important index of snow cover characteristics at the watershed scale.
The major objective in this research is to investigate the effective regions in accumulation and persistence of snow cover as well as ranking of upland hydrological units based on the contribution of snowmelt to the runoff. This information is useful in developing snowmelt simulation and forecasting models. In this research snow cover variability in space and time was simulated using remote sensing
as well as meteorological analysis. Contribution of snowmelt to runoff on upland hydrologic units was determined using a water balance model along with regional relationships. Also critical temperature,
which is one of the most important variables in snow studies, was determined using remotely sensed and synoptic data.