Estimating snowmelt volume using snow cover distribution modelling

The snow cover and its temporal evolution in a region are Simulated by solving the energy and mass balance equations on each element of a regular grid of 200 in. The meteorological variables required as inputs for the simulation model are obtained from the 24-hour lead time forecasts of a mesoscale meteorological model, known as MM5/DGF, and artificially increasing its spatial resolution. The procedure is validated for the mountainous Maipo River watershed, Chile. The results obtained are compared with satellite images and snowmelt volumes observed at some gauges in the region. A standard error of 24% is obtained for the snow cover and an error of only 11% is obtained for the total period snowmelt volume, which indicates the potential use of the model for forecasting this variable in ungauged basins.