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Influence of Snowmelt on Runoff in the Upper Main River Catchment

Author(s): Jueyi Sui; Gero Koehler; Bryan W. Karney

Linked Author(s): Bryan W. Karney

Keywords: Rainfall; Snowfall; Snowmelt; Snowmelt-rainfall depth; Runoff

Abstract: Using data of long-term observations at 16 hydrological gauging stations and 14 meteorologicalstations in upper Main River catchment of southern Germany, this paper studied the regimen of precipitation including snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE) with the specific goal of evaluating the importance of rainfall on the snow melt process. Through introducing snowmelt-rainfall depth as a new variable, the present work explores the simultaneous occurrence of snowmelt and rainfall on snow cover, assesses the characteristics of runoff including peak discharge. The major climatic feature was found to be a precipitation maximum during the hydrological summer, and the major hydrological feature was a discharge maximum during the hydrological winter. If the topographical elevation is larger than about 400 m above sea level, the snowmelt-rainfall depth plays a much more important role on the formation of runoff than stations having pure rainfall events.

DOI:

Year: 2001

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