Snow- and glacier melt are important contributors to river discharge in high-elevated areas of the Himalayan region. Thus, it is important that the key processes controlling snow and glacier accumulation and melting, are well represented in hydrological models. In this study, the sensitivity of modelled discharge to different snowmelt parameterizations was evaluated. A distributed hydrological model that operated on a 1 × 1 km2 grid at a daily time resolution was applied to a high-elevated mountainous basin, the Upper Beas basin in Indian Himalaya, including several sub-basins with a varying degree of glacier covered areas. The snowmelt was calculated using (i) a temperature-index method, (ii) an enhanced temperature-index method including a shortwave radiation term, and (iii) an energy balance method. All model configurations showed similar performance at daily, seasonal, and annual timescales and a lower performance for the validation period than for the calibration period; a main reason being the failure to capture the observed negative trend in annual discharge in the validation period. The results suggest that model performance is more sensitive to the precipitation input, i.e. interpolation method than to the choice of snowmelt routine. The paper highlights the challenges related to the lack of high quality data sets in mountainous regions, which are those areas globally with most water resources.
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Research Article|February 19 2016
Discharge sensitivity to snowmelt parameterization: a case study for Upper Beas basin in Himachal Pradesh, India
Trine J. Hegdahl
Trine J. Hegdahl
1Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1047, Oslo N-0316, Norway2The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, P.O. Box 5091 Majorstua, Oslo N-0301, Norway
E-mail: tjh@nve.no
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Lena M. Tallaksen
Lena M. Tallaksen
1Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1047, Oslo N-0316, Norway
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Kolbjørn Engeland
Kolbjørn Engeland
1Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1047, Oslo N-0316, Norway2The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, P.O. Box 5091 Majorstua, Oslo N-0301, Norway
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John F. Burkhart
John F. Burkhart
1Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1047, Oslo N-0316, Norway3Statkraft AS, Oslo, Norway
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Chong-Yu Xu
Chong-Yu Xu
1Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1047, Oslo N-0316, Norway
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Hydrology Research (2016) 47 (4): 683-700.
Article history
Received:
March 13 2015
Accepted:
January 21 2016
Citation
Trine J. Hegdahl, Lena M. Tallaksen, Kolbjørn Engeland, John F. Burkhart, Chong-Yu Xu; Discharge sensitivity to snowmelt parameterization: a case study for Upper Beas basin in Himachal Pradesh, India. Hydrology Research 1 August 2016; 47 (4): 683–700. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2016.047
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