Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Estimating Snow Cover Duration from Ground Temperature

Irene E. Teubner Department of Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

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Leopold Haimberger Department of Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

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Michael Hantel Department of Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

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Print Publication:
01 May 2015
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-15-0006.1
Page(s):
959–965
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Abstract

Snow cover duration is commonly derived from snow depth, snow water equivalent, or satellite data. Snow cover duration has more recently also been inferred from ground temperature data. In this study, a probabilistic snow cover duration (SCD) model is introduced that estimates the conditional probability for snow cover given the daily mean and the diurnal range of ground temperature. For the application of the SCD model, 87 Austrian sites in the Alpine region are investigated in the period of 2000 to 2011. The daily range of ground temperature is identified to represent the primary variable in determining the snow cover duration. In the case of a large dataset, however, the inclusion of the daily mean ground temperature as the second given parameter improves results. Rank correlation coefficients of predicted versus observed snow cover duration are typically between 0.8 and 0.9.

Corresponding author address: Irene E. Teubner, Dept. of Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, A 1090 Vienna, Austria. E-mail: irene.teubner@gmx.at

Emeritus.

Abstract

Snow cover duration is commonly derived from snow depth, snow water equivalent, or satellite data. Snow cover duration has more recently also been inferred from ground temperature data. In this study, a probabilistic snow cover duration (SCD) model is introduced that estimates the conditional probability for snow cover given the daily mean and the diurnal range of ground temperature. For the application of the SCD model, 87 Austrian sites in the Alpine region are investigated in the period of 2000 to 2011. The daily range of ground temperature is identified to represent the primary variable in determining the snow cover duration. In the case of a large dataset, however, the inclusion of the daily mean ground temperature as the second given parameter improves results. Rank correlation coefficients of predicted versus observed snow cover duration are typically between 0.8 and 0.9.

Corresponding author address: Irene E. Teubner, Dept. of Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, A 1090 Vienna, Austria. E-mail: irene.teubner@gmx.at

Emeritus.

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Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

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