Description of the Changes

• http://sgi62.wwb.noaa.gov:8080/MESOPARA/paralog.etal.snowfix.html

• Two changes were made:

  • The thermal conductivity through the top soil layer and snow pack medium was increased
  • inclusion of snow cover patchiness in the ground heat flux calculation, where snowcover can be less than one if snow cover is less that some threshold snow depth

• As such, the ground heat flux is increased, especially under shallow snow cover conditions, resulting in more heat flux from below at night, partially offsetting snow-surface nighttime radiative cooling, and reducing the cold bias in the 2-meter air temperature at night.