#IMC: September 14 - 18 2025

Estimating snow sublimation using stable water isotopes and eddy-covariance measurements in the Swiss Alps

Assigned Session: FS 3.118: Integrating cryosphere-atmosphere-hydrosphere dynamics: from process-level insights to large-scale modeling

Abstract ID: 3.13997 | Accepted as Talk | Poster | TBA | TBA

Isabella Anglin (1,2)
Harsh Beria (1,3), Ryan Teuling (2), Marius Floriancic (3), Michael Lehning (1,4)
(1) WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Flüelastrasse, 7260, Davos, Switzerland
(2) Hydrology and Environmental Hydraulics (HWM) Group at Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg, 6708PB, Wageningen, the Netherlands
(3) Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich, Stefano-Franscini-Platz, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
(4) Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Route des Ronquos, 1950, Sion, Switzerland

Categories: Cryo- & Hydrosphere
Keywords: Sublimation, Stable water isotopes, Latent heat fluxes

Categories: Cryo- & Hydrosphere
Keywords: Sublimation, Stable water isotopes, Latent heat fluxes

Download
Download

Snow sublimation remains poorly quantified in the high-elevation European Alps, creating significant uncertainties in snow ablation partitioning. Specifically, the balance between sublimation losses to the atmosphere and snowmelt infiltration into the subsurface remains unclear. Accurately constraining this partitioning is essential for effective water management in downstream basins.

Here, we present snow sublimation estimates at three alpine sites in Davos, Switzerland, using eddy covariance-derived latent heat fluxes and stable water isotope (δ¹⁸O and δ²H) measurements from snow surface samples during the 2025 winter. These sites offer unique accessibility, enabling high-temporal-resolution snowpack sampling, from sub-diurnal to weekly time scales. This study improves our understanding of sublimation in the Alps by assessing to what extent fractionation patterns in stable water isotopes of surface snowpack can serve as a reliable proxy for estimating snow sublimation.

Choose the session you want to submit an abstract. Please be assured that similar sessions will either be scheduled consecutively or merged once the abstract submission phase is completed.

Select your preferred presentation mode
Please visit the session format page to get a detailed view on the presentation timings
The final decision on oral/poster is made by the (Co-)Conveners and will be communicated via your My#IMC dashboard

Please add here your abstract meeting the following requirements:
NO REFERNCES/KEYWORDS/ACKNOWEDGEMENTS IN AN ABSTRACT!
Limits: min 100 words, max 350 words or 2500 characters incl. tabs
Criteria: use only UTF-8 HTML character set, no equations/special characters/coding
Copy/Paste from an external editor is possible but check/reformat your text before submitting (e.g. bullet points, returns, aso)

Add here affiliations (max. 30) for you and your co-author(s). Use the row number to assign the affiliation to you and your co-author(s).
When you hover over the row number you are able to change the order of the affiliation list.

1
2
3
4
1
Add Affiliation(s)

Add here co-author(s) (max. 30) to your abstract. Please assign the affiliation(s) of each co-author in the "Assigned Aff. No" by using the corresponding numbers from the "Affiliation List" (e.g.: 1,2,...)
When you hover over the row number you are able to change the order of the co-author list.

1
2
3
4
1
Add Co-Author(s)
1
2
3
1
Add Keyword
Close