HYDALP--A European Project on Snowmelt Runoff Modeling Using Satellite Data

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HYDALP (Hydrology of Alpine and High Latitude Basins) is a project of the Centre for Earth Obser-

vation (CEO) Programme, which is part of the Environment and Climate Programme of the Europ-

ean Community. The project focuses on the operational application of remote sensing data in syn-

ergy with conventional data for hydrological modeling and forecasting in basins where snow and

glacier melt are important sources of runoff. Test basins are located in the Austrian and Swiss Alps,

in Scotland, and in Northern Sweden, revealing significant differences in topography, land cover,

and climate. Satellite data are used to derive physiographic basin characteristics and to monitor the

snow cover and glaciers. Data sources are Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR) of ERS and Radarsat,

NOAA AVHRR, and various high-resolution optical sensors, including Landsat TM and SPOT HRV.

Automatic and semiautomatic methods have been developed to derive digital snow-cover maps from

the different sensors. C-band SAR offers the advantage of regular repeat observations and is the

optimum sensor for monitoring the extent of melting snow, but cannot be applied in Alpine areas for

mapping dry snow. The synergy of optical and SAR data provides optimum information on the

extent and melting conditions of the seasonal snow cover and on glacier conditions.

The runoff calculations are based on the hydrological models SRM (Snowmelt Runoff Model) of

Rango and Martinec and HBV of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. Model

modifications for efficient use of the remote sensing products are under development. Promising

results have been obtained in preliminary model runs, carried out with both SRM and HBV to simu-

late daily runoff in the Austrian test basin, using snow-cover information from SAR and optical

sensors as input. During the 1999 snowmelt season, pre-operational tests are planned to investigate

the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of the remote sensing information for daily runoff forecasts.

Institut fr Meteorologie und Geophysik, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Geographisches Institut, University of Bern, Switzerland

SCEOS, The University of Sheffield, UK

Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), Norrkoeping, Sweden

Oesterr. Elektrizitaetswirtschafts AG, Wien, Austria

Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Aberdeen, UK

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