Model:Alpine3D
From CSDMS
Alpine3D
Introduction
History
Papers
Alpine3D Questionnaire
Contact Information
| Model: | Alpine3D |
| Contact person: | Mathias Bavay (Technical contact) |
| Institute: | WSL/SLF |
| City: | Davos Dorf |
| Country: | Switzerland |
| Email: | bavay@slf.ch |
| 2nd person involved: | Michael Lehning (Model developer) |
| 3rd person involved: | -- |
Model Description
| Model type: | Modular model for the terrestrial. |
| Description: | Alpine3D is a model for high resolution simulation of alpine surface processes, in particular snow processes. The model can be driven by measurements from automatic weather stations or by meteoro-logical model outputs. The core three-dimensional Alpine3D modules consist of a radiation balance model (which uses a view factor approach and includes shortwave scattering and longwave emission from terrain and tall vegetation) and a drifting snow model solving a diffusion equation for suspended snow and a saltation transport equation. The processes in the atmosphere are thus treated in three dimensions and coupled to a distributed one dimensional model of vegetation, snow and soil model (Snowpack) using the assumption that lateral exchange is small in these media. The model is completed by a conceptual runoff module. The model modules can be run in a parallel mode, using the POP-C++ toolkit, using a grid infrastructure to allow computationally demanding tasks.
Alpine3D is a valuable tool to investigate surface dynamics in mountains and is currently used to investigate snow cover dynamics for avalanche warning and permafrost development and vegetation changes under climate change scenarios. It could also be used to create accurate soil moisture assessments for meteorological and flood forecasting. |
Technical information
| Supported platforms: | UNIX, Linux |
| Programming language: | Fortran77, C, C++ |
| Model development started at: | 1997 and development still takes place. |
| To what degree will the model become available: | Source code & executable will be available |
| Current license type: | GPLv3 |
| Memory requirements: | several Gbits (depends on the surface that is simulated) |
| Typical run time: | hours to days |
Input / Output description
| Input parameters: | The area to be simulated has to be described (DEM, landuse). The meteorological input data (air temperature, relative humidity, precipitations...) have to be described (units, interpolations types). Some parameters about the model itself must be given (precision of the radiation ray tracing algorithms, characteristic lengths, parameters for a bucket model of runoff...) |
| Input format: | ASCII |
| Output parameters: | for every grid cell: air and surface temperature, relative humidity, short and long wave radiation, snow height, snow water content, albedo
Global outputs: catchment discharge, surface and subsurface flow At user defined locations: full snow profiles (temperature profile, grain types, grain sizes, density, water content, liquid water content) |
| Output format: | ASCII |
| Post-processing software (if needed): | No |
| Visualization software (if needed): | Yes, any software able to visualize data in a 2D grid |
Process description
| Processes represented by model: | Alpine3D is a model for high resolution simulation of alpine surface processes, in particular snow processes. The model can be driven by measurements from automatic weather stations or by meteoro-logical model outputs. The core three-dimensional Alpine3D modules consist of a radiation balance model (which uses a view factor approach and includes shortwave scattering and longwave emission from terrain and tall vegetation) and a drifting snow model solving a diffusion equation for suspended snow and a saltation transport equation. The processes in the atmosphere are thus treated in three dimensions and coupled to a distributed one dimensional model of vegetation, snow and soil model (Snowpack) using the assumption that lateral exchange is small in these media. The model is completed by a conceptual runoff module. |
| Key physical parameters & equations: | Snow settling, temperature diffusion, snow saltation and suspension, snow metamorphism, terrain radiation. |
| Length scale & resolution constraints: | The model has been used with cells from 5 meters up to kilometers scale. |
| Time scale & resolution constraints: | The time scale constraints usually comes from the input meteorological data: each time step must be provided with a set of input data. |
| Numerical limitations and issues : | Overall, the model is very computationally intensive. It is usually ran on a grid or a cluster. |
Testing
| Available calibration data sets: | -- |
| Available test data sets: | -- |
| Ideal data for testing: | -- |
User groups
| Currently or plans for collaborating with: | The underlying 1D model (SNOWPACK) is already being used by various collaborating researchers/institutions. |
Documentation
| Key papers of the model: | "ALPINE3D: a detailed model of mountain surface processes and its application to snow hydrology", Michael Lehning, Ingo Völksch, David Gustafsson, Tuan Anh Nguyen, Manfred Stähli, Massimiliano Zappa, Hydrological Processes, Volume 20 Issue 10, Pages 2111 - 2128, 8 Jun 2006 |
| Is there a manual available: | yes |
| Model website if any: | -- |
Additional comments
| Comments: | -- |
