Performance of temperature and radiation index models for point-scale snow water equivalent (SWE) simulations in the Moroccan High Atlas Mountains

Four models of increasing complexity were tested and compared to simulate snow water equivalent at the local scale in the Moroccan High Atlas range. A classical temperature index model (TI) and three enhanced temperature index models that respectively include the potential clear-sky direct radiation (HTI), the incoming solar radiation (ETI-A) and net solar radiation (ETI-B), were subjected to annual and multi-annual calibration and cross-validated over the period 2003-2010. When calibrated yearly, the ETI models could be better transferred to other years, whereas all models, including the simple TI model, showed good transferability when calibrated over a longer period that includes inter-annual climate variability. No strong and recurrent relationships emerged between yearly calibrated model parameters and annual climate conditions. However, strong parameter compensation was observed for the enhanced models, which can be explained partly by the collinearity of air temperature and solar radiation causing equifinality of model parameters.