GMD Geoscientific Model Development GMD Geosci. Model Dev. 1991-9603 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/gmd-5-773-2012 The detailed snowpack scheme Crocus and its implementation in SURFEX v7.2 Vionnet V. 1 Brun E. 1 Morin S. 2 Boone A. 1 Faroux S. 1 Le Moigne P. 1 Martin E. 1 Willemet J.-M. 2 Météo-France/CNRS, CNRM – GAME URA 1357, Toulouse, France Météo-France/CNRS, CNRM – GAME URA 1357, CEN, St. Martin d'Hères, France 24 05 2012 5 3 773 791 Copyright: © 2012 V. Vionnet et al. 2012 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/5/773/2012/gmd-5-773-2012.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/5/773/2012/gmd-5-773-2012.pdf

Detailed studies of snow cover processes require models that offer a fine description of the snow cover properties. The detailed snowpack model Crocus is such a scheme, and has been run operationally for avalanche forecasting over the French mountains for 20 yr. It is also used for climate or hydrological studies. To extend its potential applications, Crocus has been recently integrated within the framework of the externalized surface module SURFEX. SURFEX computes the exchanges of energy and mass between different types of surface and the atmosphere. It includes in particular the land surface scheme ISBA (Interactions between Soil, Biosphere, and Atmosphere). It allows Crocus to be run either in stand-alone mode, using a time series of forcing meteorological data or in fully coupled mode (explicit or fully implicit numerics) with atmospheric models ranging from meso-scale models to general circulation models. This approach also ensures a full coupling between the snow cover and the soil beneath. Several applications of this new simulation platform are presented. They range from a 1-D stand-alone simulation (Col de Porte, France) to fully-distributed simulations in complex terrain over a whole mountain range (Massif des Grandes Rousses, France), or in coupled mode such as a surface energy balance and boundary layer simulation over the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (Dome C).

 References Anderson, E.&nbsp;A.: A point energy and mass balance model of a snow cover, Tech. rep., Office of Hydrology – National Weather Service, 1976. Armstrong, R. and Brun, E.: Snow and climate: physical processes, surface energy exchange and modeling, Cambridge Univ. Pr., 2008. Bartelt, P. and Lehning, M.: A physical SNOWPACK model for the Swiss avalanche warning: Part I: numerical model, Cold Reg. Sci. Technol., 35, 123–145, 2002. Bartlett, S., Ruedi, J., Craig, A., and Fierz, C.: Assessment of techniques for analyzing snow crystals in two dimensions, Ann. Glaciol., 48, 103–112, 2008. Bazile, E., El&nbsp;Haiti, M., Bogatchev, A., and Spiridonov, V.: Improvement of the snow parametrisation in ARPEGE/ALADIN, in: Proceedings of SRNWP/HIRLAM Workshop on surface processes, turbulence and mountain effects, 22–24 October 2001, Madrid, HIRLAM 5 Project, 14–19, 2002. Best, M., Beljaars, A., Polcher, J., and Viterbo, P.: A proposed structure for coupling tiled surfaces with the planetary boundary layer, J. Hydrometeorol., 5, 1271–1278, 2004. Best, M.&nbsp;J., Pryor, M., Clark, D.&nbsp;B., Rooney, G.&nbsp;G., Essery, R. L.&nbsp;H., Ménard, C.&nbsp;B., Edwards, J.&nbsp;M., Hendry, M.&nbsp;A., Porson, A., Gedney, N., Mercado, L.&nbsp;M., Sitch, S., Blyth, E., Boucher, O., Cox, P.&nbsp;M., Grimmond, C. S.&nbsp;B., and Harding, R.&nbsp;J.: The Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES), Model description – Part 1: Energy and water fluxes, Geosci. Model Dev., 4, 677–699, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/gmd-4-677-2011">https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-4-677-2011</a>, 2011. Boone, A. and Etchevers, P.: An intercomparison of three snow schemes of varying complexity coupled to the same land-surface model: {L}ocal scale evaluation at an {A}lpine site, J. Hydrometeorol., 2, 374 – 394, 2001. Boone, A., Masson, V., Meyers, T., and Noilhan, J.: The influence of the inclusion of soil freezing on simulations by a soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer scheme, J. Appl. Meteorol., 39, 1544–1569, 2000. Bouilloud, L. and Martin, E.: A coupled model to simulate snow behavior on roads, J. Appl. Meteorol., 45, 500–516, 2006. Braun, L., Brun, E., Durand, Y., Martin, E., and Tourasse, P.: Simulation of discharge using different methods of meteorological data distribution, basin discretization and snow modelling, Nord. Hydrol., 25, 129–144, 1994. Brown, R., Bartlett, P., MacKay, M., and Verseghy, D.: Evaluation of snow cover in CLASS for SnowMIP, Atmos.-Ocean, 44, 223–238, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3137/ao.440302">https://doi.org/10.3137/ao.440302</a>, 2006. Brucker, L., Royer, A., Picard, G., Langlois, A., and Fily, M.: Hourly simulations of the microwave brightness temperature of seasonal snow in Quebec, Canada, using a coupled snow evolution-emission model, Remote Sens. Environ., 115, 1966–1977, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2011.03.019">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2011.03.019</a>, 2011. Brun, E.: Investigation on wet-snow metamorphism in respect of liquid-water content, Ann. Glaciol., 13, 22–26, 1989. Brun, E., Martin, E., Simon, V., Gendre, C., and Col{é}ou, C.: An energy and mass model of snow cover suitable for operational avalanche forecasting, J. Glaciol., 35, 333–342, 1989. Brun, E., David, P., Sudul, M., and Brunot, G.: A numerical model to simulate snow-cover stratigraphy for operational avalanche forecasting, J. Glaciol., 38, 13–22, 1992. Brun, E., Martin, E., and Spiridonov, V.: Coupling a multi-layered snow model with a GCM, Ann. Glaciol., 25, 66–72, 1997. Brun, E., Six, D., Picard, G., Vionnet, V., Arnaud, L., Bazile, E., Boone, A., Bouchard, A., Genthon, C., Guidard, V., Moigne, P.&nbsp;L., Rabier, F., and Seity, Y.: Snow/atmosphere coupled simulation at Dome C, Antarctica, J. Glaciol., 52, 721–736, 2011. Clifton, A., Ruedi, J., and Lehning, M.: Snow saltation threshold measurements in a drifting-snow wind tunnel, J. Glaciol., 52, 585–596, 2006. Decharme, B., Boone, A., Delire, C., and Noilhan, J.: Local Evaluation of the ISBA Soil Multilayer Diffusion Scheme using Four Pedotransfer Functions, J. Geophys. Res., 116, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011JD016002">https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD016002</a>, 2011. Douville, H., Royer, J., and Mahfouf, J.: A new snow parameterization for the Meteo-France climate model, Clim. Dynam., 12, 21–35, 1995. Durand, Y., Giraud, G., Brun, E., M{é}rindol, L., and Martin, E.: A computer-based system simulating snowpack structures as a tool for regional avalanche forecasting, J. Glaciol., 45, 469–484, 1999. Durand, Y., Guyomarc'h, G., M{é}rindol, L., and Corripio, J.: Improvement of a numerical snow drift model and field validation, Cold Reg. Sci. Technol., 43, 93–103, 2005. Dutra, E., Balsamo, G., Viterbo, P., Miranda, P., Beljaars, A., Sch{ä}r, C., and Elder, K.: An improved snow scheme for the ECMWF land surface model: description and offline validation, J. Hydrometeorol., 11, 899–916, 2010. Etchevers, P., Martin, E., Brown, R., Fierz, C., Lejeune, Y., Bazile, E., Boone, A., Dai, Y., Essery, R., Fernandez, A., et&nbsp;al.: Validation of the energy budget of an alpine snowpack simulated by several snow models (SnowMIP project), Ann. Glaciol., 38, 150–158, 2004. Flanner, M., Shell, K., Barlage, M., Perovich, D., and Tschudi, M.: Radiative forcing and albedo feedback from the Northern Hemisphere cryosphere between 1979 and 2008, Nature Geosci., 4, 151–155, 2011. Gallée, H., Guyomarc'h, G., and Brun, E.: Impact of snow drift on the Antarctic ice sheet surface mass balance : possible sensitivity to snow-surface properties, Bound.-Layer Meteorol., 99, 1–19, 2001. Gordon, M., Simon, K., and Taylor, P.: On snow depth predictions with the Canadian land surface scheme including a parametrization of blowing snow sublimation, Atmos.-Ocean, 44, 239–255, 2006. Gregory, J.&nbsp;M.: The CF metadata standard, Tech. rep., CLIVAR, 2003. Guyomarc'h, G. and Merindol, L.: Validation of an application for forecasting blowing snow, Ann. Glaciol., 26, 138–143, 1998. Habets, F., Boone, A., Champeaux, J., Etchevers, P., Franchisteguy, L., Leblois, E., Ledoux, E., Le&nbsp;Moigne, P., Martin, E., Morel, S., et&nbsp;al.: The SAFRAN-ISBA-MODCOU hydrometeorological model applied over France, J. Geophys. Res., 113, 18, 2008. Jacobi, H., Domine, F., Simpson, W., Douglas, T., and Sturm, M.: Simulation of the specific surface area of snow using a one-dimensional physical snowpack model: implementation and evaluation for subarctic snow in Alaska, The Cryosphere, 4, 35–51, 2010. Jordan, R.: A One-Dimensional Temperature Model for a Snow Cover: Technical Documentation for SNTHERM. 89., Tech. rep., Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab. Hanover NH, 1991. Jordan, R.: Effects of capillary discontinuities on water flow and water retention in layered snowcovers, Defence Sci. J., 45, 79–91, 1995. Kodama, M., Nakai, K., Kawasaki, S., and Wada, M.: An application of cosmic-ray neutron measurements to the determination of the snow-water equivalent, J. Hydrol., 41, 85–92, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(79)90107-0">https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(79)90107-0</a>, 1979. Kuipers&nbsp;Munneke, P., van&nbsp;den Broeke, M., Lenaerts, J., Flanner, M., Gardner, A., and van&nbsp;de Berg, W.: A new albedo parameterization for use in climate models over the Antarctic ice sheet, J. Geophys. Res, 116, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010JD015113">https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD015113</a>, 2011. Lafore, J. P., Stein, J., Asencio, N., Bougeault, P., Ducrocq, V., Duron, J., Fischer, C., Héreil, P., Mascart, P., Masson, V., Pinty, J. P., Redelsperger, J. L., Richard, E., and Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, J.: The Meso-NH Atmospheric Simulation System. Part I: adiabatic formulation and control simulations, Ann. Geophys., 16, 90–109, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00585-997-0090-6">https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-997-0090-6</a>, 1998. Langlois, A., Brucker, L., Kohn, J., Royer, A., Derksen, C., Cliche, P., Picard, G., Fily, M., and Willemet, J.-M.: Simulation of Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) using Thermodynamic Snow Models in southern Quèbec between 2005 and 2006, J. Hydrometeorol., 10, 1447–1462, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2009JHM1154.1">https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JHM1154.1</a>, 2009. Le&nbsp;Moigne, P., Boone, A., Calvet, J.-C., Decharme, B., Faroux, S., Gibelin, A.-L., Lebeaupin, C., Mahfouf, J.-F., Martin, E., V., M., Mironov, D., Noilhan, J., P., T., and Van Den&nbsp;Hurk, B.: SUREFX Scientific Documentation, Note de centre du Groupe de Météorologie à Moyenne Echelle, 87, Météo-France, online available at: http://www.cnrm.meteo.fr/surfex/, last access: April 2012, CNRM, Toulouse, France, 211 pp., 2009. Lejeune, Y., Wagnon, P., Bouilloud, L., Chevallier, P., Etchevers, P., Martin, E., Sicart, J.-E., and Habets, F.: Melting of snow cover in a tropical mountain environment in Bolivia: Processes and modeling, J. Hydrometeorol., 8, 922–937, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JHM590.1">https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM590.1</a>, 2007. Lesaffre, B., Pougatch, E., and Martin, E.: Objective determination of snow-grain characteristics from images, Ann. Glaciol., 26, 112–118, 1998. Loth, B. and Graf, H.: Modeling the snow cover in climate studies 1. Long-term integrations under different climatic conditions using a multilayered snow-cover model, J. Geophys. Res. D, 103, 11, 313–327, 1998. Louis, J.: A parametric model of vertical eddy fluxes in the atmosphere, Bound. Layer Meteorol., 17, 187–202, 1979. Lynch-Stieglitz, M.: The development and validation of a simple snow model for the GISS GCM, J. Climate, 7, 1842–1855, 1994. Marbouty, D.: An experimental study of temperature-gradient metamorphism, J. Glaciol., 26, 303–312, 1980. Martin, E. and Lejeune, Y.: Turbulent fluxes above the snow surface, Ann. Glaciol., 26, 179–183, 1998. Martin, E., Timbal, B., and Brun, E.: Downscaling of general circulation model outputs: simulation of the snow climatology of the French Alps and sensitivity to climate change, Clim. Dynam., 13, 45–56, 1997. Masson, V., Champeaux, J., Chauvin, F., Meriguet, C., and Lacaze, R.: A global database of land surface parameters at 1-km resolution in meteorological and climate models, J. Climate, 16, 1261–1282, 2003. Morin, S., Lejeune, Y., Lesaffre, B., Panel, J.-M., Poncet, D., David, P., and Sudul, M.: A 18-years long (1993 - 2011) snow and meteorological dataset from a mid-altitude mountain site ({C}ol de {P}orte, {F}rance, 1325 m alt.) for driving and evaluating snowpack models, Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., 5, 29–45, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/essdd-5-29-2012">https://doi.org/10.5194/essdd-5-29-2012</a>, 2012a. Morin, S., Domine, F., Dufour, A., Lejeune, Y., Lesaffre, B., Willemet, J.-M., Carmagnola, C.&nbsp;M., and Jacobi, H.-W.: Measurements and modeling of the vertical profile of specific surface area of an alpine snowpack, Adv. Water Res., <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2012.01.010">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2012.01.010</a>, in press, 2012b. Noilhan, J. and Mahfouf, J.-F.: The ISBA land surface parameterization scheme, Global Planet. Change, 17, 145–159, 1996. Noilhan, J. and Planton, S.: A simple parameterization of land surface processes for meteorological models, Mon. Wea. Rev., 117, 536–549, 1989. Oleson, K., Lawrence, D., Gordon, B., Flanner, M., Kluzek, E., Peter, J., Levis, S., Swenson, S., Thornton, E., Feddema, J., et&nbsp;al.: Technical description of version 4.0 of the Community Land Model (CLM), Tech. rep., 2010. Pahaut, E.: La métamorphose des cristaux de neige (Snow crystal metamorphosis), 96, {Monographies de la Météorologie Nationale}\/, Météo France, 1976. Paquet, E. and Laval, M.-T.: Operation feedback and prospects of EDF Cosmic-Ray Snow Sensors, La Houille Blanche, 2, 113–119, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/lhb:200602015">https://doi.org/10.1051/lhb:200602015</a>, 2006. Polcher, J., McAvaney, B., Viterbo, P., Gaertner, M., Hahmann, A., Mahfouf, J., Noilhan, J., Phillips, T., Pitman, A., Schlosser, C., et&nbsp;al.: A proposal for a general interface between land surface schemes and general circulation models, Global Planet. Change, 19, 261–276, 1998. Rew, R. and Davis, G.: NetCDF - An interface for scientific-data access, IEEE Comput. Graph., 10, 76–82, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/38.56302">https://doi.org/10.1109/38.56302</a>, 1990. Rousselot, M., Durand, Y., Giraud, G., Merindol, L., and Daniel, L.: Analysis and forecast of extreme new-snow avalanches: a numerical study of the avalanche cycles of February 1999 in France, J. Glaciol., 56, 758–770, 2010. Rutter, N., Essery, R., Pomeroy, J., Altimir, N., Andreadis, K., Baker, I., Barr, A., Bartlett, P., Boone, A., Deng, H., et&nbsp;al.: Evaluation of forest snow processes models (SnowMIP2), J. Geophys. Res., 114, D06111, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008JD011063">https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD011063</a>, 2009. Salgado, R. and Le&nbsp;Moigne, P.: Coupling of the FLake model to the Surfex externalized surface model, Boreal Environ. Res., 15, 231–244, 2010. Sato, T., Kosugi, K., Mochizuki, S., and Nemoto, M.: Wind speed dependences of fracture and accumulation of snowflakes on snow surface, Cold Reg. Sci. Technol., 51, 229–239, 2008. Seity, Y., Brousseau, P., Malardel, S., Hello, G., B{é}nard, P., Bouttier, F., Lac, C., and Masson, V.: The AROME-France convective scale operational model, Mon. Wea. Rev., 129, 976–991, 2011. Shrestha, M., Wang, L., Koike, T., Xue, Y., and Hirabayashi, Y.: Improving the snow physics of WEB-DHM and its point evaluation at the SnowMIP sites, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 2577–2594, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/hess-14-2577-2010">https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-14-2577-2010</a>, 2010. Vionnet, V., Guyomarc'h, G., Naaim-Bouvet, F., Martin, E., Durand, Y., Bellot, H., Bel, C., and Puglièse, P.: Occurrence of blowing snow events at an alpine site over a 10-year period: observations and modeling, Adv. Water Res., accepted, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2012.05.004">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2012.05.004</a>, 2012. Wagnon, P., Lafaysse, M., Lejeune, Y., Maisincho, L., Rojas, M., and Chazarin, J.&nbsp;P.: Understanding and modeling the physical processes that govern the melting of snow cover in a tropical mountain environment in Ecuador, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 114, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012292">https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012292</a>, 2009. Warren, S.: Optical properties of snow, Rev. Geophys. Space Phys., 20, 67–89, 1982. Yen, Y.&nbsp;C.: Review of thermal properties of snow, ice and sea ice, CRREL Rep., 81–10, 1981. Zender, C.&nbsp;S.: Analysis of self-describing gridded geoscience data with netCDF Operators (NCO), Environ. Modell. Softw., 23, 1338–1342, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2008.03.004">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2008.03.004</a>, 2008.