Observation, Simulation, and Evaluation of Snow Dynamics in the Transitional Snow Zone

The frequent mid-winter accumulation and ablation cycles of snowpack within the rain-snow transitional zone play an important role for the maritime basins along the western U.S. mountain ranges. Representation of transitional snowpack within hydrological models has remained a challenge, largely because surface and meteorological conditions frequently remain near the freezing point, which allows large errors in modeled accumulation or ablation to result from small forcing or structural errors. This research aims to improve model representation of accumulation and ablation processes by utilizing new observations within the transitional snow zone combined with novel methods of model evaluation. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).