EGU21-14084, updated on 04 Mar 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14084
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Can snow persistence explain the spatial-temporal variabilities in streamflow hydrograph flashiness across snow-dominated regions?

Edward Le1, Ali Ameli2, Joseph Janssen3, John Hammond4, and Kristo Elijah Krugger5
Edward Le et al.
  • 1University of British Columbia, Faculty of Science, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Canada (edward.le@alumni.ubc.ca)
  • 2University of British Columbia, Faculty of Science, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Canada (aameli@eoas.ubc.ca)
  • 3University of British Columbia, Faculty of Science, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Canada (joe.janssen1997@gmail.com)
  • 4U.S. Geological Survey, MD-DE-DC Water Science Center, Baltimore, Maryland (johnhammondplease@gmail.com)
  • 5University of British Columbia, Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science, Canada (kristoelijahkrugger@gmail.com)

Recent research showed that, snow persistence, defined here as the fraction of time that snow is present on the ground, can play an important role in explaining spatial variability of average annual streamflow in moderately snowmelt-dominated regions. Here, we extend this work and explore the following questions: 1) whether globally available snow persistence data is useful for estimating a suite of streamflow signatures explaining the shape, flashiness and components of streamflow hydrograph, and 2) whether snow persistence could be useful for reconstructing streamflow patterns in ungauged watersheds, both spatially and temporally. We explore these questions across a spectrum of climatic dryness, snowiness, and geological settings. The motivations for the study are the need to understand how loss of snow may affect the components of streamflow in different climatic and geological settings, as well as the need for simple methods to predict components of streamflow in snow-dominated ungauged basins.

How to cite: Le, E., Ameli, A., Janssen, J., Hammond, J., and Krugger, K. E.: Can snow persistence explain the spatial-temporal variabilities in streamflow hydrograph flashiness across snow-dominated regions?, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-14084, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14084, 2021.

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