Physically based modeling of many-year dynamics of daily streamflow and snow water equivalent in the Lena R. basin

Abstract

The applicability of a procedure, developed previously for evaluating runoff hydrographs of northern rivers, to the largest Russian river—the Lena—which flows under severe conditions of the Northeastern Siberia, is examined. The procedure is based on the land surface model SWAP in combination with input data derived from global databases of land surface parameters and meteorological forcing data derived from observations at meteorological stations located in the basins of the rivers or near them. Also studied was the ability of the model SWAP to reproduce the many-year dynamics of the values of snow water equivalent averaged over the Lena basin and their distribution over the basin area.