Estimating time and spatial distribution of snow water equivalent in the Hakusan area

Abstract:

In the Sousei program, on-going Japanese research program for risk information on climate change, assessing the impact of climate change on water resources is attempted using the integrated water resources model which consists of land surface model, irrigation model, river routing model, reservoir operation model, and crop growth model. Due to climate change, reduction of snowfall amount, reduction of snow cover and change in snowmelt timing, change in river discharge are of increasing concern. So, the evaluation of snow water amount is crucial for assessing the impact of climate change on water resources in Japan.

To validate the snow simulation of the land surface model, time and spatial distribution of the snow water equivalent was estimated using the observed surface meteorological data and RAP (Radar Analysis Precipitation) data. Target area is Hakusan. Hakusan means ‘white mountain’ in Japanese. Water balance of the Tedori River Dam catchment was checked with daily inflow data.

Analyzed runoff was generally well for the period from 2010 to 2012. From the result for 2010-2011 winter, maximum snow water equivalent in the headwater area of the Tedori River dam reached more than 2000mm in early April. On the other hand, due to the underestimation of RAP data, analyzed runoff was under estimated from 2006 to 2009. This underestimation is probably not from the lack of land surface model, but from the quality of input precipitation data. In the original RAP, only the rain gauge data of JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency) were used in the analysis. Recently, other rain gauge data of MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) and local government have been added in the analysis. So, the quality of the RAP data especially in the mountain region has been greatly improved. "Reanalysis" of the RAP precipitation is strongly recommended using all the available off-line rain gauges information. High quality precipitation data will contribute to validate hydrological model, satellite based precipitation product, GCM output, etc.