Ohara et al. (2026) Possibility of SWE estimation from snow cover extent using the dynamic non-Gaussian snow depletion curve

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Hydrology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-06
• Authors: N. Ohara, Rui A. P. Perdigão
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135981

Research Groups

• Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management, University of Wyoming
• Meteoceanics Institute for Complex System Science, IUC Physics of Complex Coevolutionary Systems & Fluid Dynamical Systems, Washington, DC
• Synergistic Manifolds, Lisbon, Portugal

Short Summary

This study aims to estimate snow water equivalent (SWE) from observable snow cover fraction (SCF) using the non-Gaussian multivariate information-theoretic metric. The results suggest that the non-Gaussian component can improve SWE estimation in addition to regular Gaussian correlation method.

Objective

• Estimate SWE from SCF accounting for higher-order statistical dependencies using the non-Gaussian mutual information (MI)

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Watersheds in Western US, including Upper Tuolumne River watershed
• Temporal Scale: Water year 2013 season

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Dsnow model for snow distribution reconstruction, PyMoments program library for unbiased estimation of multivariate statistical moments
• Data sources: ASO SWE product (50-m resolution), ground-observed atmospheric forcing data, vegetation canopy data from National Land Cover Database

Main Results

• Non-Gaussian MI contribution to SDC is substantial and can improve SWE estimation
• Instantaneous SDCs vary across regions over the season
• Predictability of SWE drops when SCF approaches 1 (100% snow-covered)

Contributions

• This study demonstrates the potential of non-Gaussian information metric for improving SWE estimation from remotely observed SCF data
• The PP07 IM can handle non-Gaussianity and non-linearity simultaneously, providing a more accurate representation of the correlation structure between SCF and SWE

Funding

• Not specified in the paper

Citation

@article{Ohara2026Possibility,
  author = {Ohara, N. and Perdigão, Rui A. P.},
  title = {Possibility of SWE estimation from snow cover extent using the dynamic non-Gaussian snow depletion curve},
  journal = {Journal of Hydrology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135981},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135981}
}