Abstract ID: 3.11277 | Accepted as Talk | Talk/Oral | TBA | TBA

Site-specific studies of snow cover in different landscapes are crucial for understanding snow cover variability across various climatic zones. Here, we present a modeling approach using the fully distributed, physically based snow model openAMUNDSEN to simulate snow cover in Berchtesgaden National Park, Germany. This region, located in the eastern European Alps, features highly complex topography with elevation differences of up to 2000 meters over just 3.5 km. We forced the model with meteorological data from 20 automatic weather stations across the 210 km² study area, performing simulations at a spatial resolution of 50 × 50 m. For model evaluation, we used fractional snow cover estimates from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, point snow depth measurements in open areas, and snow metrics derived from ground temperatures measured under forest canopies. Ground temperature measurements were obtained through a distributed network of 150 microclimate loggers (TOMST TMS-4). Our results indicate that the model reproduces the overall variability of snow cover across the park’s diverse landscapes, although some discrepancies arise at specific sites. These findings advance our understanding of spatial snow cover variations in a complex alpine environment.