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Investigating the Performance of Snowmelt Runoff Model Using Temporally Varying Near-Surface Lapse Rate in Western Himalayas


Affiliations
1 Inter Disciplinary Program (IDP) in Climate Studies and Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, Indonesia
2 Inter Disciplinary Program (IDP) in Climate Studies and Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, India
3 Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, India
4 National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee 247 667, India
 

The present study assesses the effect of accounting the temporal variation of near-surface lapse rate in the conceptual, degree-day snowmelt runoff model simulations in a cold-desert region of Himalayas. The nearsurface lapse rate over Spiti basin shows seasonal variation during a year. The results obtained show that the inclusion of monthly variation of lapse rate in the hydrological modelling is able to capture the observed hydrograph more efficiently than when an annually constant value of lapse rate is employed. Based on our results and considering the available data, a monthly representation of near-surface lapse rates in the temperature index based models is recommended for Himalayan basins.

Keywords

Himalayas, Lapse Rate, Snowmelt Runoff Model, Temporal Variation.
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  • Investigating the Performance of Snowmelt Runoff Model Using Temporally Varying Near-Surface Lapse Rate in Western Himalayas

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Authors

Smarika Kulshrestha
Inter Disciplinary Program (IDP) in Climate Studies and Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, Indonesia
RAAJ Ramsankaran
Inter Disciplinary Program (IDP) in Climate Studies and Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, India
Ajay Kumar
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, India
Manohar Arora
National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee 247 667, India
A. R. Senthil Kumar
National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee 247 667, India

Abstract


The present study assesses the effect of accounting the temporal variation of near-surface lapse rate in the conceptual, degree-day snowmelt runoff model simulations in a cold-desert region of Himalayas. The nearsurface lapse rate over Spiti basin shows seasonal variation during a year. The results obtained show that the inclusion of monthly variation of lapse rate in the hydrological modelling is able to capture the observed hydrograph more efficiently than when an annually constant value of lapse rate is employed. Based on our results and considering the available data, a monthly representation of near-surface lapse rates in the temperature index based models is recommended for Himalayan basins.

Keywords


Himalayas, Lapse Rate, Snowmelt Runoff Model, Temporal Variation.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv114%2Fi04%2F808-813