Spatiotemporal Variability of Snow Depth, Density, and Water Equivalent across Iran

Abstract

Spatial and temporal characteristics of snow depth, snow density, and snow water equivalent in the mountainous regions of Iran were investigated. It is obtained that in the mountainous regions the coefficients of variation (CV) for snow depth in January, February, March and April are smaller than on the plain and decrease in April. CV estimates for snow density were smaller, and those for snow water equivalent are greater than the corresponding CVs for snow depth. The regional CV patterns were similar for the three variables. The trend in their variations was assessed using the nonparametric Mann–Kendall test. The results showed that the three snowpack characteristics were stationary during the last four decades. There is a decreasing or increasing trend in three of the nine stations. The spatial variability of three snowpack characteristics was assessed using the inverse weighted distance squared (IDW) technique.