Snow Band Output Files

When the model is run with the internal snow model, with snow elevation bands, and PRT_SNOW_BAND is turned on in the model control 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.

Full Energy Balance Model Snow Band Files

ASCII Format
Binary Format

Water Balance Only Model Snow Band Files

ASCII Format
Binary Format

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 file is determined by GRID_DECIMAL in the model control file, while the latitude and longitude values come from the soil parameter file.

Full Energy Balance Model Snow Files

ASCII Format

Data is in an ASCII column 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	swq	mm	Snow water equivalence (the amount of water stored in the snow pack)
6+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	snow_depth	cm	Snow pack depth
7+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	snow_canopy	mm	Amount of snow stored in the canopy is present
8+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	advection	W/m²	Advective flux into the canopy by rain
9+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	deltaCC	W/m²	Change in the cold content or energy storage of the snow pack
10+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	snow_flux	W/m²	Thermal flux through the snow pack
11+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	refreeze_energy	W/m²	Energy used to refreeze the snow pack

Example File:

Binary Format

Data is in a Binary record format:

Column	Variable Type	Variable Name	Units	Description
1	int	year	year	Year of current record
2	int	month	month	Month of current record
3	int	day	day	Day of current record
4	int	hour	hour	Hour of current record (present only if model is run at a sub-daily time step).

The following values repeat for each snow band

5+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	float	swq	mm	Snow water equivalence (the amount of water stored in the snow pack)
6+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	float	snow_depth	cm	Snow pack depth
7+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	float	snow_canopy	mm	Amount of snow stored in the canopy is present
8+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	float	advection	W/m²	Advective flux into the canopy by rain
9+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	float	deltaCC	W/m²	Change in the cold content or energy storage of the snow pack
10+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	float	snow_flux	W/m²	Thermal flux through the snow pack
11+(SNOW_BAND-1)*7	float	refreeze_energy	W/m²	Energy used to refreeze the snow pack

Example File:

Water Balance Only Model Snow Band Files

ASCII Format

Data is in an ASCII column 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

The following values repeat for each snow band

4+(SNOW_BAND-1)*3	swq	mm	Snow water equivalence (the amount of water stored in the snow pack)
5+(SNOW_BAND-1)*3	snow_depth	cm	Snow pack depth
6+(SNOW_BAND-1)*3	snow_canopy	mm	Amount of snow stored in the canopy is present

Example File:

Binary Format

Data is in a Binary record format:

Column	Variable Type	Variable Name	Units	Description
1	int	year	year	Year of current record
2	int	month	month	Month of current record
3	int	day	day	Day of current record

The following values repeat for each snow band

4+(SNOW_BAND-1)*3	float	swq	mm	Snow water equivalence (the amount of water stored in the snow pack)
5+(SNOW_BAND-1)*3	float	snow_depth	cm	Snow pack depth
6+(SNOW_BAND-1)*3	float	snow_canopy	mm	Amount of snow stored in the canopy is present