Paper No. 99159 of the Journal of the American Water Resources Association.Discussions are open until December 1, 2000.
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AN ORGANIZED SIGNAL IN SNOWMELT RUNOFF OVER THE WESTERN UNITED STATES†
Article first published online: 8 JUN 2007
DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2000.tb04278.x
Issue
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JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association
Volume 36, Issue 2, pages 421–432, April 2000
Additional Information
How to Cite
Peterson, D. H., Smith, R. E., Dettinger, M. D., Cayan, D. R. and Riddle, L. (2000), AN ORGANIZED SIGNAL IN SNOWMELT RUNOFF OVER THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 36: 421–432. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2000.tb04278.x
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Publication History
- Issue published online: 8 JUN 2007
- Article first published online: 8 JUN 2007
- Abstract
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- hydroclimatology;
- surface water hydrology;
- water management;
- snow hydrology
ABSTRACT: Daily-to-weekly discharge during the snowmelt season is highly correlated among river basins in the upper elevations of the central and southern Sierra Nevada (Carson, Walker, Tuolumne, Merced, San Joaquin, Kings, and Kern Rivers). In many cases, the upper Sierra Nevada watershed operates in a single mode (with varying catchment amplitudes). In some years, with appropriate lags, this mode extends to distant mountains. A reason for this coherence is the broad scale nature of synoptic features in atmospheric circulation, which provide anomalous insolation and temperature forcing that span a large region, sometimes the entire western U.S. These correlations may fall off dramatically, however, in dry years when the snowpack is spatially patchy.