Research Article

Application of the Alpine 3D model for glacier mass balance and glacier runoff studies at Goldbergkees, Austria

  1. Gernot Michlmayr1,2,*,
  2. Michael Lehning1,
  3. Gernot Koboltschnig2,3,
  4. Hubert Holzmann2,
  5. Massimiliano Zappa4,
  6. Rebecca Mott1,
  7. Wolfgang Schöner5

Article first published online: 23 JUL 2008

DOI: 10.1002/hyp.7102

Issue

Hydrological Processes

Hydrological Processes

Special Issue: Glaciers in Watershed and Global Hydrology

Volume 22, Issue 19, pages 3941–3949, 15 September 2008

Additional Information

How to Cite

Michlmayr, G., Lehning, M., Koboltschnig, G., Holzmann, H., Zappa, M., Mott, R. and Schöner, W. (2008), Application of the Alpine 3D model for glacier mass balance and glacier runoff studies at Goldbergkees, Austria. Hydrol. Process., 22: 3941–3949. doi: 10.1002/hyp.7102

Author Information

  1. 1

    WSL, Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), Davos, Switzerland

  2. 2

    University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria

  3. 3

    International Research Society Interpraevent, Klagenfurt, Austria

  4. 4

    WSL, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

  5. 5

    Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG), Vienna, Austria

*WSL, Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), Davos, Switzerland.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 28 AUG 2008
  2. Article first published online: 23 JUL 2008
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 22 MAY 2008
  4. Manuscript Received: 19 OCT 2007

Funded by

  • Austrian Academy of Sciences under the project SNOWTRANS HOE29, part of the IHP PUB (International Hydrological Program, Prediction in Ungauged Basins)
  • Swiss National Science Foundation and the EC. Grant Number: AWARE FP6

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Keywords:

  • mountain hydrology;
  • glacier mass balance;
  • physically based modelling

Abstract

The model for mountain surface processes, Alpine 3D, was applied to the Goldbergkees basin (2·7 km2, 52% glacierized) in the central Austrian Alps to model hourly discharge and glacier mass balance. Alpine 3D is a physically based model which focuses on snow-ice-soil energy and mass fluxes (without lateral, gravity driven flows) in rugged terrain. From the records of the Sonnblick observatory, located in the study area, a high-quality set of meteorological, glaciological and hydrological data could be provided to force and evaluate the model. A 1-year period was simulated starting from September 2004. The model results were evaluated using observations of the glacier mass balance and discharge at the catchment outlet. The spatial variation of modelled annual net mass balance of Goldbergkees shows good agreement to observed data. Significant deviations occur mainly at locations, which are presumably influenced by avalanche events or drifting snow. The quality of runoff simulation was estimated using the Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency and the explained variance number. Both criteria demonstrate that the modelled catchment discharge is of satisfactory quality, despite the fact that the local mass balance is not well represented at all grid points. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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