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SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES IN THE MOUNTAINS

Dennis P. Lettenmaier Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Washington Mountain hydroclimate and water resources workshop National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, CO October 17, 2007. SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES IN THE MOUNTAINS.

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SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES IN THE MOUNTAINS

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  1. Dennis P. Lettenmaier Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Washington Mountain hydroclimate and water resources workshop National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, CO October 17, 2007 SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES IN THE MOUNTAINS

  2. Surface Characteristics Topography Soils Vegetation Surface meteorological drivers Precipitation Temperature Solar Radiation Wind Land surface hydrological processes Snow Subsurface hydrology Runoff generation Evapotranspiration Hydrologic observations in mountain environments Implications at the large scale – Colorado River climate sensitivity Processes and variables considered

  3. 1. Surface Characteristics

  4. Where are the mountains?

  5. Topography and vegetation, Puget Sound drainage basin, Washington

  6. Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed vegetation, from field observations (left) and classified imagery (right) from Seyfried et al, WRR 2001

  7. Topography and soil depth, Upper Billabong Creek Catchment, NWS, Australia visual courtesy CSIRO

  8. 2. Surface meteorological drivers

  9. PRISM annual precipitation climatology, western U.S. (visual from NOAA/NWS)

  10. PRISM monthly maximum temperature map, Sep, 2007 Source: www.prism.orgegonstate.edu

  11. Annual mean beam radiation (MJ/m2/day, Mt. Jumbong region, Korea from Kang et al, Can. J. For. Res., 2002

  12. Downward solar radiation as a function of spatial averaging scale, Green Lakes Basin, Niwot Ridge, CO (2 PM, Apr 1) Visual courtesy Danny Marks

  13. Wind and snow accumulation factor, Reynolds Mountain East, for wind direction 230 degrees from Winstral and Marks, HP, 2002

  14. 3. Land surface hydrological processes

  15. Snow processes in a forest environment

  16. Partial snow coverage – Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed (photo courtesy Danny Marks)

  17. Niwot Ridge Weather Station

  18. Visual courtesy John Pomeroy

  19. Visual courtesy John Pomeroy

  20. Visual courtesy John Pomeroy

  21. Visual courtesy John Pomeroy

  22. Energy balance over mountain snowpack, San Juan Mountains, CO, Spring 2005 from Bales et al, WRR, 2006

  23. visual courtesy Danny Marks

  24. Runoff generation – the saturation excess mechanism Saturated area (source: Dunne and Leopold)

  25. Expansion of saturated area during a storm (source: Dunne and Leopold)

  26. Simulated depth to water table, Green River basin, Washington, Jan – July, 1996

  27. Saturation excess isn’t always the mechanism!

  28. The importance of seasonal changes in surface energy fluxes -- Distributed model spatial average (ADM) latent heat flux,, as compared with macroscale equivalent model (MSE) ADM MSE - ADM From Arola and Lettenmaier, J Clim, 1996

  29. 4. Hydrologic observations in mountain environments

  30. RCEW Ridge Site (visual courtesy Danny Marks)

  31. RCEW Grove Site (visual courtesy Danny Marks)

  32. Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) measurement – old and new

  33. Mt. Bigelow flux tower, AZ

  34. Stream gauge, Lower Stringer Creek, MT

  35. Colorado River basin climate sensitivities as a case study: Why don’t GCM projections match those of hydrologic models? Concluding comments – why small scale hydrologic processes matter at the large scale

  36. P-E (from Seager et al 2007) Co River discharge (from C&L, 2007)

  37. Visual courtesy Danny Marks

  38. Visual courtesy John Pomeroy

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