Jiang et al. (2025) Assessing the Simulation of Ephemeral-Snow Duration in the Tibetan Plateau

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Hydrometeorology
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-10-28
• Authors: Yingsha Jiang, Huaiwu Peng, Yanhong Gao, Yongjie Pan, Xia Li, Zhenshi Zhang, Yong Luo
• DOI: 10.1175/jhm-d-25-0027.1

Research Groups

[Not explicitly mentioned in the provided abstract.]

Short Summary

This study evaluates the capability of a land surface model to simulate ephemeral snow duration over the Tibetan Plateau's interior basins using optimized atmospheric forcing data, revealing systematic biases including overestimation of short snow durations and underestimation of long durations, and proposing a physical scheme adjustment for improvement.

Objective

• To explore the capability of a land surface model to simulate snow duration over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) using relatively accurate atmospheric forcing data.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Interior basins of the Tibetan Plateau (TP), specifically across 88 TP sites.
• Temporal Scale: Focus on continuous snow days (CSD) events, categorized as short (SCSD: ≤7 days), medium (MCSD: 8–31 days), and long (LCSD: >31 days) durations.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: A land surface model.
• Data sources: In situ observations, observation-constrained air temperature and precipitation, optimized atmospheric forcing data.

Main Results

• Snow depth simulation significantly improved after using observation-constrained atmospheric forcing, with relative bias reducing from -39.1% to 1.1%.
• The model failed to capture most CSD events within 3 days, significantly underestimating their proportion (e.g., 1-day CSD observed at 58.5% vs. simulated at ~20%).
• Model simulations overestimated the mean CSD by approximately one time, primarily due to overestimated short CSD (SCSD).
• Medium CSD (MCSD) and long CSD (LCSD) were underestimated by 2.6 days and 17 days, respectively.
• LCSD underestimation was likely driven by excessive snowmelt due to overestimated maximum ground temperature (Tg).
• MCSD/SCSD uncertainties stemmed from both overestimated snow depth and underestimated maximum Tg.
• Reducing snow-depth thresholds in model physical schemes improved the underestimated maximum Tg during SCSD from -5.1 °C to -2.1 °C, subsequently reducing mean SCSD overestimation from 2.6 days to 1.0 day.

Contributions

• Reveals the distribution patterns and model physical performances of snow duration on the Tibetan Plateau.
• Identifies systematic biases in land surface model simulations of ephemeral snow duration (overestimation of short durations, underestimation of long durations).
• Pinpoints potential physical drivers for these biases (ground temperature, accumulation, and melt physics).
• Proposes a specific pathway for model improvement by adjusting snow-depth thresholds in physical schemes, offering a reference for future snow model development.

Funding

[Not explicitly mentioned in the provided abstract.]

Citation

@article{Jiang2025Assessing,
  author = {Jiang, Yingsha and Peng, Huaiwu and Gao, Yanhong and Pan, Yongjie and Li, Xia and Zhang, Zhenshi and Luo, Yong},
  title = {Assessing the Simulation of Ephemeral-Snow Duration in the Tibetan Plateau},
  journal = {Journal of Hydrometeorology},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1175/jhm-d-25-0027.1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1175/jhm-d-25-0027.1}
}