Snow Band Output Files

When the model is run with snow elevation bands, and default outputs are specified via global parameter file, snow pack information for each elevation band will be output to files in the results directory with the prefix snow_band_. Energy fluxes are output only for the full energy balance model, so there are file descriptions for both full energy and water balance model output files.

Each output file contains model output from one grid cell. The files use the naming convention snow_band_xx.xx_yy.yy, where xx.xx is the latitude, and yy.yy is the longitude. The number of decimal places in the output filename is determined by GRID_DECIMAL in the global parameter file, while the latitude and longitude values come from the soil parameter file.

Snow Band File Format

Column Variable Name Units Description
1 year year Year of current record
2 month month Month of current record
3 day day Day of current record
4 hour hour Hour of current record (present only if model is run at a sub-daily time step).
The following columns repeat for each snow band
5+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_SWE_BAND mm Snow water equivalence (the amount of water stored in the snow pack)
6+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_SNOW_DEPTH_BAND cm Snow pack depth
7+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_SNOW_CANOPY_BAND mm Amount of snow stored in the canopy is present
8+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_SNOW_COVER_BAND fraction Fractional area of snow cover
9+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_ADVECTION_BAND W/m2 Advective flux into the canopy by rain
10+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_DELTACC_BAND W/m2 Change in the cold content or energy storage of the snow pack
11+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_SNOW_FLUX_BAND W/m2 Thermal flux through the snow pack
12+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_RFRZ_ENERGY_BAND W/m2 Energy used to refreeze the snow pack
13+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_MELT_ENERGY_BAND W/m2 Energy of fusion (melting) in snow pack
14+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_ADV_SENS_BAND W/m2 Net sensible heat flux advected to snow pack
15+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_LATENT_SUB_BAND W/m2 Net upward latent heat flux due to sublimation
16+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_SNOW_SURFT_BAND C Snow surface temperature
17+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_SNOW_PACKT_BAND C Snow pack temperature
18+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_MELT_BAND mm Amount of snow melt
19+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_NET_SHORT_BAND W/m2 Net downward shortwave flux
20+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_NET_LONG_BAND W/m2 Net downward longwave flux
21+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_ALBEDO_BAND fraction Average surface albedo
22+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_LATENT_BAND W/m2 Net upward latent heat flux
23+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_SENSIBLE_BAND W/m2 Net upward sensible heat flux
24+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7 OUT_GRND_FLUX_BAND W/m2 Net heat flux into ground