Rainwater propagation through snowpack during rain-on-snow sprinkling experiments under different snow conditions

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68407700%3A21110%2F17%3A00321337" target="_blank" >RIV/68407700:21110/17:00321337 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/60460709:41330/17:74073

Result on the web

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4973-2017" target="_blank" >http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4973-2017</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4973-2017" target="_blank" >10.5194/hess-21-4973-2017</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Rainwater propagation through snowpack during rain-on-snow sprinkling experiments under different snow conditions

Original language description

The mechanisms of rainwater propagation and runoff generation during rain-on-snow (ROS) events are still insufficiently known. Understanding storage and transport of liquid water in natural snowpacks is crucial, especially for forecasting of natural hazards such as floods and wet snow avalanches. In this study, propagation of rainwater through snow was investigated by sprinkling experiments with deuterium-enriched water and applying an alternative hydrograph separation technique on samples collected from the snowpack runoff. This allowed us to quantify the contribution of rainwater, snowmelt and initial liquid water released from the snowpack. Four field experiments were carried out during winter 2015 in the vicinity of Davos, Switzerland. Blocks of natural snow were isolated from the surrounding snowpack to inhibit lateral exchange of water and were exposed to artificial rainfall using deuterium-enriched water. The experiments were composed of four 30 min periods of sprinkling, separated by three 30 min breaks. The snowpack runoff was continuously gauged and sampled periodically for the deuterium signature. At the onset of each experiment antecedent liquid water was first pushed out by the sprinkling water. Hydrographs showed four pronounced peaks corresponding to the four sprinkling bursts. The contribution of rainwater to snowpack runoff consistently increased over the course of the experiment but never exceeded 86 %. An experiment conducted on a non-ripe snowpack suggested the development of preferential flow paths that allowed rainwater to efficiently propagate through the snowpack limiting the time for mass exchange processes to take effect. In contrast, experiments conducted on ripe isothermal snowpack showed a slower response behaviour and resulted in a total runoff volume which consisted of less than 50% of the rain input.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10501 - Hydrology

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2017

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences

ISSN

1027-5606

e-ISSN

1607-7938

Volume of the periodical

21

Issue of the periodical within the volume

9

Country of publishing house

DE - GERMANY

Number of pages

15

Pages from-to

4973-4987

UT code for WoS article

000412245400003

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85030461785