Improving the monitoring and forecasting of the snowfall limit in order to increase preparedness to flood events in pre-alpine areas

Abstract

The snowfall limit has important implications for the occurrence of flood events. However, the estimation of the snowfall limit and associated hydrological processes remains challenging, particularly in alpine and pre-alpine areas. In these areas, the snowfall limit and snow cover can have highly dynamic properties and observations may be scarce or associated with considerable uncertainties. This research aims to improve the monitoring and forecasting of the snowfall limit and associated hydrological processes in the context of flood early warning. The presented studies are focusing on pre-alpine areas in the Canton of Bern in Switzerland, which has been selected as a pilot site in the European project ANYWHERE (EnhANcing emergencY management and response to extreme WeatHER and climate Events). In this region, existing operational approaches are evaluated and further developed by using various data sources such as satellite images or information from meteorological and hydrological stations.