Modeling the Water and Energy Balance of Small Mountainous Catchments
Location
Eccles Conference Center
Event Website
http://water.usu.edu/
Start Date
3-27-2006 4:30 PM
End Date
3-27-2006 4:45 PM
Description
Modeling the water and energy balance of small mountainous catchments TJ Kelleners, Dept. of Plants, Soils, and Biometeorology, USU, Logan, UT DG Chandler, Dept. of Plants, Soils, and Biometeorology, USU, Logan, UT MS Seyfried, Northwest Watershed Research Center, USDA-ARS, Boise, ID JP McNamara, Dept. of Geosciences, BSU, Boise, ID A new model is being developed to describe the water and energy balance of small mountainous catchments that are subject to snow accumulation and snow melt. A digital elevation model is used to calculate terrain properties such as slope, aspect, and surface area. Distributed water storage capacity is calculated by combining depth-tobedrock data with soil porosity data. Separate energy balances are calculated for the vegetation, the soil, and the snow pack, if present. The description of the snow pack as a single layer is based on the Utah Energy Balance Snow Accumulation and Melt Model. Lateral subsurface flow in the soil above the bedrock is calculated using the Boussinesq equation. Saturation-excess surface runoff is transported to neighboring cells by assuming instantaneous redistribution. The model is tested in the Boise-Front Experimental Watershed, near Boise, Idaho. Preliminary calibration results show that the model is able to describe catchment outflow as well as spatially distributed snow depth, soil water content, and soil temperature over a full year.
Modeling the Water and Energy Balance of Small Mountainous Catchments
Eccles Conference Center
Modeling the water and energy balance of small mountainous catchments TJ Kelleners, Dept. of Plants, Soils, and Biometeorology, USU, Logan, UT DG Chandler, Dept. of Plants, Soils, and Biometeorology, USU, Logan, UT MS Seyfried, Northwest Watershed Research Center, USDA-ARS, Boise, ID JP McNamara, Dept. of Geosciences, BSU, Boise, ID A new model is being developed to describe the water and energy balance of small mountainous catchments that are subject to snow accumulation and snow melt. A digital elevation model is used to calculate terrain properties such as slope, aspect, and surface area. Distributed water storage capacity is calculated by combining depth-tobedrock data with soil porosity data. Separate energy balances are calculated for the vegetation, the soil, and the snow pack, if present. The description of the snow pack as a single layer is based on the Utah Energy Balance Snow Accumulation and Melt Model. Lateral subsurface flow in the soil above the bedrock is calculated using the Boussinesq equation. Saturation-excess surface runoff is transported to neighboring cells by assuming instantaneous redistribution. The model is tested in the Boise-Front Experimental Watershed, near Boise, Idaho. Preliminary calibration results show that the model is able to describe catchment outflow as well as spatially distributed snow depth, soil water content, and soil temperature over a full year.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/runoff/2006/AllAbstracts/44