The Influence of Uncertainty in Air Temperature and Albedo on Snowmelt

Abstract

Extrapolating meteorological data to the basin scale represents a major problem of spatial snowmelt modelling in alpine terrain. Within this study errors in air temperature introduced by regionalization are analyzed for the Sellrain region in the Austrian Alps. Albedo is simulated using a range of model parameters representing different snow cover conditions. The influence on snowmelt is assessed by simulating water equivalent at the site scale using estimated air temperatures and albedoes. Simulation results indicate that a bias in measured temperatures as produced by local effects may be significantly more important than interpolation errors. Uncertainty in albedo appears to affect snowmelt to a higher degree than air temperature.