%0 Journal Article %9 ACL : Articles dans des revues avec comité de lecture répertoriées par l'AERES %A L'Hôte, Yann %A Chevallier, Pierre %A Coudrain, Anne %A Lejeune, Y. %A Etchevers, P. %T Relationship between precipitation phase and air temperature : comparison between the Bolivian Andes and the Swiss Alps %D 2005 %L fdi:010041223 %G ENG %J Hydrological Sciences Journal = Journal des Sciences Hydrologiques %@ 0262-6667 %K air temperature ; Alps ; Andes ; Bolivia ; hydrological modelling ; meteorological data ; precipitation phase ; Switzerland %M CC:0002338861-0006 %N 6 %P 989-997 %U https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010041223 %> https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/depot/2009-03-24/010041223.pdf %V 50 %W Horizon (IRD) %X Determining the precipitation phase-rain or snow-is an important factor in modelling discharge in mountainous basins. In a study carried out in the outer tropical Andes Cordillera of Bolivia, half-hourly determination of precipitation phase was obtained by applying a suitable expert system, taking I I meteorological parameters into consideration that are measured over 21 months at an altitude close to 4800 m. Straightforward relationships between the determined precipitation phase and observed air temperature were analysed in histograms that contain percentage occurrences of snowfall, rainfall and mixed precipitation events for 0.5 degrees C air temperature increments. The graph shows a nearly identical distribution of percentage occurrences of snowfall in the Andes to that on a 1600-m high site in the Swiss Alps. This result suggests that, for hydrological modelling purposes in the outer tropical Andes, the same rain/snow threshold temperature as in the compared Swiss site can be applied. %$ 062