Snow in Lebanon: a preliminary study of snow cover over Mount Lebanon and a simple snowmelt model / Etude préliminaire du couvert neigeux et modèle de fonte des neige pour le Mont Liban

Abstract The physical properties of snow, including apparent density, snow cover distribution and snowmelt in the Nahr El Kelb basin (Mount Lebanon), were studied in order to design a simple empirical snowmelt model. In February 2001, snow covered an area of 1600 km2 on Mount Lebanon, representing a water equivalent of 1.1 x 109 m3. The snow surface area was calculated by combining TM5 images with a digital elevation model, and field observations made every three days, from 1400 to 2300 m altitude. The depletion of snow cover was measured from the end of December 2000 to the end of June 2001. The snowmelt was measured from surface depletion on a degree-day basis. A simple model relating the daily snowmelt to the product of wind speed and average positive daily air temperature, is presented and discussed. For Mount Lebanon, this model gave a better approximation of snowmelt than a simple degree-day model.