Evaluation of the Snowmelt Runoff Model in the Moroccan High Atlas mountains using two snow-cover estimates

A. Boudhar 1, * L. Hanich 1 Gilles Boulet 2 Benoît Duchemin 2 B. Berjamy 3 Abdelghani Chehbouni 2
* Corresponding author
1 Equipe Ecologie Végétale, Sol et Environnement
2 CESBIO - Centre d'études spatiales de la biosphère
3 ABHT - Agence de Bassin Hydrologique du Tensift
Abstract : In the centre of Morocco, the High Atlas mountain range represents the most important water storage for the neighbouring arid plains through liquid and solid precipitation. In this context, we evaluated the performance of the Snowmelt Runoff Model (SRM) on the five main tributary watersheds of the High Atlas range. Due to the very low density of climate stations in the High Atlas, snowfall and snowmelt processes are difficult to monitor using meteorological data alone. In order to compensate for the lack of in situ data, snow maps are also derived from remotely-sensed data. We compared the streamflow forecasting performance when the model is driven by one or the other estimate of snow-covered area. Both estimates are generally comparable in all watersheds, and satisfactory streamflow simulations were obtained at seasonal time scales using both snow-cover products. However, significant differences can be observed for selected storms, with more accurate streamflow predictions being obtained when the remotely-sensed data are used.
Keywords : snow mapping SPOT-VEGETATION snowmelt runoff modelling High Atlas Mountains Morocco
Document type :
Journal articles
Complete list of metadatas

Cited literature [54 references]  Display  Hide  Download
https://hal.ird.fr/ird-00491127
Contributor : Dominique Bruel <>
Submitted on : Thursday, June 10, 2010 - 4:42:00 PM
Last modification on : Friday, October 11, 2019 - 8:22:25 PM
Long-term archiving on : Friday, September 17, 2010 - 1:21:33 PM

Files

Boudhar2009EvaluationHysj.54.6...
Publisher files allowed on an open archive

Identifiers

Collections

IRD | INSU | OMP | OMP-CESBIO | UNIV-TLSE3

Citation

A. Boudhar, L. Hanich, Gilles Boulet, Benoît Duchemin, B. Berjamy, et al.. Evaluation of the Snowmelt Runoff Model in the Moroccan High Atlas mountains using two snow-cover estimates. Hydrological Sciences Journal, Taylor & Francis, 2009, 54 (6), pp.1094-1113. ⟨ird-00491127⟩

Export

BibTeX TEI DC DCterms EndNote

Share

Metrics

Record views

412

Files downloads

727

Contact

support.ccsd.cnrs.fr
hal.support@ccsd.cnrs.fr
Logo CCSD