This thesis has investigated the possibility of improved soil temperature modeling using an updated version of an existing soil temperature model frequently used in catchment scale biogeochemical modeling. Future (2061-2090) snow dynamics and soil temperature was projected using ensemble of bias-corrected regional climate models (RCM). Effects over a north-south gradient of Sweden were analyzed using the four Swedish Integrated Monitoring (IM) catchments as study sites. Model calibration was applied on the study sites using daily observations of soil temperature for 1996-2008. The calibrated models were able to simulate soil temperature at different depths in the soil profile in a very accurate way in all IM sites. The lowest validation NS-value (objective criterion used for measuring goodness of fit) recorded in the study was 0.93. Even though the overall model performances were good, the simulations had problem of duplicating some of the winter temperatures at the northernmost site, Gammtratten. Whether the updated soil temperature model offered an improvement of the existing model is therefore debatable. The future simulations showed increasing soil temperatures at all study sites on annual basis, more in the south than in the north. Annual soil temperatures were projected to increase by 1.31 – 2.33 °C for the different study sites. Winter soil temperatures were clearly higher than during 1996-2008 for the two southernmost sites, whilst Gammtratten in the north, had colder winter soil temperatures. At the midmost catchment, winter soil temperatures were quite similar to that of the test period. Whether the cold winter soil temperatures at Gammtratten were a result of snow loss was ambiguous. The results from the future simulations showed the complexity of predicting soil temperature and strengthened the conclusion among scientists that any general assumptions of future soil temperature based on e.g. air temperature cannot be done. / Det här examensarbetet har undersökt möjligheterna till förbättrad modellering av marktemperaturer genom införandet av en uppdaterad version av en tidigare modell, frekvent använd vid biokemisk modellering på avrinningsområdesnivå. Vidare har framtida (2061-2090) snödynamik och marktemperaturer simulerats genom att en ensemble av bias –korrigerad klimatdata används för att driva modellen. Nutida (1996-2008) klimatdata, samt marktemperatursdata för kalibrering och validering av modellen, tillhandahölls från de fyra platser som ingår i det Svenska miljöövervakningsprogrammet (IM). Dessa platser kom att utgöra en syd-nordlig gradient, längs vilken resultaten analyserades.   Det generella omdömet från kalibreringen av modellen var att den kunde erbjuda en bra representation av verkliga förhållanden i fråga om marktemperatur. Det lägsta NS-värdet (objektivt kriterium använt för att mäta modellens passningsgrad) som uppmättes under valideringen var 0,93, vilket ansågs vara mycket högt. Dock hade modellen svårigheter att efterlikna verkliga markförhållanden vid Gammtratten under vintermånaderna, vilket föranledde slutsatsen att vidare undersökningar behöver göras för att kunna fastställa om modellen utgör en förbättring av den tidigare existerande versionen.   De framtida simuleringarna visade högre årliga marktemperaturer i jämförelse med dagen värden, särskilt i söder. Baserat på simuleringarna är det troligt att framtida marktemperaturer kommer att vara mellan 1,31 och 2,33 °C högre än idag. Beträffande säsongsmässig variation var maktemperaturerna under vintern högre än dagens värden för de två sydliga platserna medans de var lägre för den nodligaste platsen (Gammtratten). Huruvida de kallare simulerade marktemperaturerna vid Gammtratten var en konsekvens av ett mindre isolerande snötäcke var tvetydigt. Resultaten från de framtida simuleringarna har visat på komplexiteten i att förutspå framtida marktemperaturer och har stärkt uppfattningen om att några generella slutsatser om vad t.ex. högre lufttemperaturer kommer få för konsekvenser för framtida marktemperaturer inte kan göras.

An acoustic frequency-swept wave was investigated as a means for determining Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) in cold wind-swept prairie and sub-alpine environments. Building on previous research conducted by investigators who have examined the propagation of sound in snow, digital signal processing was used to determine acoustic pressure wave reflection coefficients at the interfaces between 'layers' indicative of changes in acoustic impedance. Using an iterative approach involving boundary conditions at the interfaces, the depth-integrated SWE was determined using the Berryman equation from porous media physics. Apparatuses used to send and receive sound waves were designed and deployed during the winter season at field sites situated near the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and in Yoho National Park, British Columbia. Data collected by gravimetric sampling was used as comparison for the SWE values determined by acoustic sounding. The results are encouraging and suggest that this procedure is similar in accuracy to SWE data collected using gravimetric sampling. Further research is required to determine the applicability of this technique for snow situated at other geographic locations.

Hydrological models have been developed to estimate snow accumulation, snowmelt and snowmelt runoff on the Canadian Prairies; however, their proper scale of application is unknown in the Prairie environment. The first objective of this thesis is to examine the proper scale for pre-melt snow accumulation as snow water equivalent (SWE) and snowmelt in a Prairie first order basin. Spatially distributed and spatially aggregated approaches were used to calculate SWE and snowmelt at St. Denis National Wildlife Area (SDNWA). Both approaches used models with similar physics, but differed in the model scale at which calculations were carried out. The simulated pre-melt SWE, cumulative seasonal SWE, and daily snowmelt from the two modelling approaches were compared to field observations of pre-melt SWE, cumulative seasonal SWE, and daily snowmelt; comparisons of areal cumulative seasonal SWE, areal snowmelt, snowmelt duration, and snow-covered area were also conducted between two modelling approaches. Results from these comparisons showed that both approaches had reasonable and similar accuracy in estimation of SWE and snowmelt. The spatially aggregated approach was more computationally efficient and was selected as a modelling scale for small-sized prairie basins. <p>Another objective of this thesis is to derive a snow hydrology model for the Canadian Prairies. Physically-based hydrological models were assembled in the Cold Regions Hydrological Model Platform (CRHM) using the aggregated approach. Tests of pre-melt SWE and surface snowmelt runoff were conducted at two basins in Saskatchewan Creighton Tributary of Bad Lake and Wetland 109, St. Denis. Results showed that the snow hydrology model had a reasonable capability to simulate SWE and snowmelt runoff to the stream and wetland. <p>Droughts are natural hazards that develop frequently on the Canadian Prairies. Analyzing the impact of drought on hydrological processes and water supply is another objective of this thesis. Synthetic drought scenarios were proposed for the Creighton Tributary of Bad Lake and the corresponding impacts on the snowmelt runoff-related processes were examined. Results indicated that wind redistribution of snow was very sensitive to drought conditions, sublimation of blowing snow and snow-covered period were sensitive to drought, but winter evaporation and infiltration did not show strong trend. The results also showed that drought conditions had magnified effects on the snowmelt runoff and could cause cessation of streamflow. Also, the impacts of the recent 1999-2005 drought on the snowmelt hydrology were investigated at St. Denis. Results illustrated that three-years (1999-2002) of severe winter drought were followed by a normal year (2002-03) and then a two-year (2003-05) recovery period, and then returning to normal (2005-06). Results showed that both snowfall and rainfall during hydrological winter were consistently low for severe drought and surface snowmelt runoff was very much lower during severe drought, about 45-65 mm less compared to that in the normal periods.

In this study, Yuvacik Basin, which is located in southeastern part of Marmara Region of T&uuml / rkiye, is selected as the application basin and hydrologic modeling studies are performed for the basin. Basin is divided into three subbasins such as: Kirazdere, Kazandere, and Serindere and each subbasin is modeled with its own parameters. In subbasin and stream network delineation HEC-GeoHMS software is used and for the hydrologic modeling studies the new version of HEC-HMS hydrologic modeling software released in April 2006 is used. Modeling studies consist of four items: event-based hourly simulations, snow period daily simulations, daily runoff forecast using numerical weather prediction data, and runoff scenarios using intensity-duration-frequency curves. As a result of modeling studies, infiltration loss and baseflow parameters of each subbasin are calibrated with both hourly and daily simulations. Hourly parameters are used in spring, summer and fall seasons / daily parameters are used in late fall, winter and early spring (snowfall and snowmelt period) to predict runoff. Observed runoffs are compared with the forecasted runoffs that are obtained using MM5 grid data (precipitation and temperature) in the model. Goodness-of-fit between forecasted and observed runoffs is promising. Hence, the model can be used in real time runoff forecast studies. At last, runoffs that correspond to different return periods and probable maximum precipitation are predicted using intensity-duration-frequency data as input and frequency storm method of HEC-HMS. These runoffs can be used for flood control and flood damage estimation studies.

The assimilation process to produce daily Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) maps is modified by using Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) snow emission model and AMSR-E passive microwave data. The characteristics of HUT emission model is analyzed in-depth and discussed with respects to the extinction coefficient function. A new extinction coefficient function for the HUT model is proposed for snow over mountainous areas. Performance of the modified model is checked against original and other modified cases against ground truth data covering 2003-2007 winter periods. A new approach to calculate grain size and density is integrated inside the developed data assimilation process. An extensive validation is successfully carried out by means of snow data measured at ground stations during 2008-2010 winter periods. Validation results were less satisfactory for SWE smaller than 75.0 mm and greater than 200.0 mm. Overestimation is especially observed for stations located below 1750.0 m elevation where SWE is less than 75.0 mm. Applied methodology is fine tuned to improve its performance for shallow snow depths observed below 1750 m elevation using a relationship that integrates 10.7 GHz channel data. But an underestimation for SWE greater than 150 mm could not beresolved due to microwave signal saturation that is expected in dense snowpack.

This project studied the effect of different parameters on the conjugate heat transfer in tube-in-block heat exchangers for various engineering applications. These included magnetic coolers (or heaters) associated with a magnetic refrigeration system, high heat flux coolers for electronic equipment, and hydronic snow melting system embedded in concrete slabs. The results of this research will help in designing the cooling/heating systems and select their appropriate geometrical dimensions and material for specific applications. Types of problems studied in this project are: steady state circular microchannels with heat source in the gadolinium substrate, transient heat transfer in circular microchannels with time varying heat source in a gadolinium substrate, transient heat transfer in composite trapezoidal microchannels of silicon and gadolinium with constant and time varying heat source, steady state heat transfer in microchannels using fluids suspended with nanoparticl es, and analysis of steady state and transient heat transfer in a hydronic snow melting system. For each of these problems a numerical simulation model was developed. The mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations were solved in the fluid region and energy conservation in the solid region of the heat exchanger to arrive at the velocity and temperature distributions. Detailed parametric study was carried out for each problem. Parameters were Reynolds number, heat source value, channel diameter or channel height, solid materials and working fluids. Results are presented in terms of solid-fluid interface temperature, heat flow rate, heat transfer coefficient, and Nusselt number along the length of the channel and with the progression of time. The results showed that an increase in Reynolds number decreases the interface temperature but increases the heat flow rate and Nusselt number. When the heat source varied with time, by applying and removing the magnetic field, the interface temperature, heat flow rate, and Nusselt number attained a periodic variation with time. The decrease in the diameter at constant Reynolds number decreases the interface temperature and increases the heat flow rate at the fluid-solid interface.

Distributed models of the land surface are essential for global climate models because of the importance of land-atmosphere exchanges of water, energy, momentum. They are also used for high resolution hydrologic simulation because of the need to capture non-linear responses to spatially variable inputs. Continued improvements to these models, and the data which they use, is especially important given ongoing changes in climate and land cover. In hydrologic models, important aspects are sometimes neglected due to the need to simplify the models for operational simulation. For example, operational flash flood models do not consider the role of snow and are often lumped (i.e. do not discretize a watershed into multiple units, and so do not fully consider the effect of intense, localized rainstorms). To address this deficiency, an overland flow model is coupled with a subsurface flow model to create a distributed flash flood forecasting system that can simulate flash floods that involve rain on snow. The model is intended for operational use, and there are extensive algorithms to incorporate high-resolution hydrometeorologic data, to assist in the calibration of the models, and to run the model in real time. A second study, which is designed to improve snow simulation in forested environments, demonstrates the importance of explicitly representing a near canopy environment in snow models, instead of only representing open and canopy covered areas (i.e. with % canopy fraction), as is often done. Our modeling, which uses canopy structure information from Aerial Laser Survey Mapping at 1 meter resolution, suggests that areas near trees have more net snow water input than surrounding areas because of the lack of snow interception, shading by the trees, and the effects of wind. In addition, the greatest discrepancy between our model simulations that explicitly represent forest structure and those that do not occur in areas with more canopy edges. In addition, two value-added Land Cover products (land cover type and maximum green vegetation fraction; MGVF) are developed and evaluated. The new products are good successors to current generation land cover products that are used in global models (many of which rely on 20 year old AVHRR land cover data from a single year) because they are based on 10 years of recent MODIS data. There is substantial spurious interannual variability in the MODIS land cover type data, and the MGVF product can vary substantially from year to year depending on climate conditions, suggesting the importance of using climatologies for land cover data. The new land cover type climatology also agrees better with validation sites, and the MGVF climatology is more consistent with other measures of vegetation (e.g. Leaf Area Index) than the older land cover data.

Both natural and anthropogenic climate change are driven by forcings that interact and result in hydroclimatic changes that alter ecosystems and natural resources at different temporal and spatial scales. Accordingly, changes within regions (i.e. individual points to large watersheds) may differ from patterns observed at sub-continental to global scales, thus necessitating the generation of point- to region-specific, cross-scale hydroclimatic data to elucidate important drivers of observed changes, and provide information at scales relevant to resource managers. Herein, we use the Northern U.S. Rocky Mountains as a study region to explore 1) the covariability between observed hydrologic and climatic changes, 2) the nature of changes occurring at the scale of days to decades, and 3) the ocean-atmosphere teleconnections operating at continental- to hemispheric-scales underlying the observed regional patterns of hydroclimatic variability. We then expand the scope of study to include the entire central North American Cordillera to investigate changes in winter precipitation (i.e. snowpack) spanning the last millennia+, with a focus on the spatial and temporal coherence of events from the medieval climatic anomaly to present. To accomplish this we utilize the full suite of hydroclimatic observational records in conjunction with proxy records of snowpack derived from a distributed network of tree-ring chronologies.Results from observational records in the Northern Rockies show important changes have occurred in the frequency and means of biophysically important temperature thresholds, and that recent changes appear greater in magnitude at the mid- to high-elevations. These changes, coupled with interannual- to interdecadal-scale moisture variability driven by ocean-atmosphere teleconnections, are shown to be strong controls on the timing and amount of regional snowpack and streamflow. Across the cordillera, tree-ring based records of snowpack show that before 1950, the region exhibited substantial inter-basin variability in snowpack, even during prolonged droughts and pluvials, marked by a predominant north-south dipole associated with Pacific variability. Snowpack was unusually low in the Northern Rocky Mountains for much of the 20th century and over the entire cordillera since the 1980s; heralding a new era of snowpack declines entrained across all major headwaters in western North America.

Oxidation of organic species, in particular dicarboxylic and humic acids, was investigated in ice. Products were analyzed by Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry, ion and gas chromatography, and a Total Organic Carbon analyzer. Photolysis of succinic acid with H2O2, an OH precursor, produced malonic acid and malic acid, illustrating that diacids are subject to photochemical degradation in ice. First-order decay rate constants were an order of magnitude higher at room temperature (~23 °C) than in ice (-20 °C). A smaller difference was observed for malonic acid, a more soluble diacid, suggesting that partial segregation of H2O2 and succinic acid during freezing played an important role in the kinetics. VOCs, likely to be aldehydes and ketones, were produced from ice containing humic acid through heterogeneous ozonolysis and photooxidation which was enhanced by NO3-, an OH precursor. VOCs also formed from ice made from deionized water, likely through oxidation of organic contaminants.

No description available.