Abstract
The Tizinafu watershed has a complex mountainous terrain in the western Kunlun Mountains; little study has been done on the spatial and temporal characteristics of snow cover in the region. Daily snow cover data of 10 hydrological years (October 2002 to September 2012) in the watershed were generated by combining MODIS Terra (MOD10A1) and Aqua (MYD10A1) snow cover products and employing a nine-day temporal filter for cloud reduction. The accuracy and window size of the temporal filter were assessed using a simulation approach. Spatial and temporal characteristics of snow cover in the watershed were then analyzed. Our results showed that snow generally starts melting in March and reaches the minimum in early August in the watershed. Snow cover percentages (SCPs) in all five elevation zones increase consistently with the rise of elevation. Slope doesn’t play a major role in snow cover distribution when it exceeds 10°. The largest SCP difference is between the south and the other aspects and occurs between mid-October and mid-November with decreasing SCP, indicating direct solar radiation may cause the reduction of snow cover. While both the mean snow cover durations (SCDs) of the hydrological years and of the snowmelt seasons share a similar spatial pattern to the topography of the watershed, the coefficient of variation of the SCDs exhibits an opposite spatial distribution. There is a significant correlation between annual mean SCP and annual total stream flow, indicating that snowmelt is a major source of stream runoff that might be predictable with SCP.
Highlights
Snow cover plays an important role in the water budget of arid watersheds in western China and many other mountainous regions in the world
The Tizinafu watershed in the western Kunlun Mountains, a small but complex mountainous watershed with elevation ranging from 1500 to over 6000 m, was chosen as the study area as little study has been done in the northern slope of the Himalaya Mountains
Investigating the spatiotemporal characteristics of the snow cover using systematically collected remote sensing data is the first step in our efforts to understand and simulate the hydrological processes and to predict the future impacts of climate change for the watershed [19,51]
Summary
Snow cover plays an important role in the water budget of arid watersheds in western China and many other mountainous regions in the world. Snow cover is an important indicator of local and global climate change. Many studies have documented recent declining and increasing trends of snow cover extent around the world in response to climate change [2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Snowmelt water from the mountain watershed is the primary water resource to support about 500,000 people who live in downstream oases. Characterizing the spatial distribution and temporal variation of snow cover in the Tizinafu watershed helps us to understand the hydrological processes and manage the water resources in the watershed
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