Snowmelt Runoff Estimation Using Energy-Balance Approach

Abstract

The energy balance of a snowpack derives the production of snowmelt water. Proper budgeting of this energy driven processes is required for the efficient management of water resources. The study area is a part of North-Western Himalayas, i.e. Manali sub-watershed (area = 350 km2), situated in the Himachal Pradesh state, India. The region experiences snowfall from December to February with January being the coldest month. Meteorological data and remotely sensed data from Landsat ETM+, IRS P-6 LISS-III and MODIS 8-day snow cover data product of the watershed has been used as input. For simulation of energy-exchange process and estimation of the amount of snowmelt generated, a physically based Utah Energy Balance model was used. The model performances were found good and an agreement between the observed and simulated values was obtained with few over- and under-predictions and the coefficient of determination being 0.718 at the Manali outlet.