ESCIMO.spread (v2) is a spreadsheet-based model to simulate the energy and mass balance as well as melt rates of a snow surface. The model is forced by hourly recordings of temperature, precipitation, wind speed, relative humidity, and incoming global and longwave radiation.
The computed output is graphically visualized in x-y diagrams. The model spreadsheet is easily portable and adjustable, and runs particularly fast: an hourly calculation of a one winter season is instantaneous on a standard computer.
Simulated suface energy balance (upper right) and snow melt (lower right) at Station Kühroint National Park Berchtesgaden (left) for the years 2004/2005.
The effect of potential climate change on the seasonal evolution of the snow cover can be estimated by modifying the time series of observed temperature and precipitation by means of adjustable parameters.
Simulated snow melt (Station Kühroint National Park Berchtesgaden 2004/2005).
ESCIMO.spread has recently been extended with a snow-canopy interaction submodel. This newly developed version – ESCIMO.spread (v2) – modifies meteorological observations observed in the open for canopy effects and calculates the snow cover evolution for inside-canopy conditions.
Snow melt simulated with ESCIMO.spread (v2) inside and outside a forest canopy (Station Vordersteinwald in the Black Forest region, Germany).
ESCIMO.spread key publications:
Strasser, U. and Marke, T. (2010): ESCIMO.spread – a spreadsheet-based point snow surface energy balance model to calculate hourly snow water equivalent and melt rates for historical and changing climate conditions, Geosci. Model Dev., 3, 643-652, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/gmd-3-643-2010.
Marke, T., Mair, E., Förster, K., Hanzer, F., Garvelmann, J., Pohl, S., Warscher, M. and Strasser, U. (2016): ESCIMO.spread (v2): Parameterization of a spreadsheet-based energy balance snow model for inside-canopy conditions, Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 633–646, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-633-2016.