@article{fdi:010081317,
  title = {{A}ssessment of {MERRA}-2 and {ERA}5 to model the snow water equivalent in the {H}igh {A}tlas (1981-2019)},
  author = {{B}aba, {M}. {W}. and {B}oudhar, {A}. and {G}ascoin, {S}. and {H}anich, {L}. and {M}archane, {A}. and {C}hehbouni, {A}bdelghani},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{M}elt water runoff from seasonal snow in the {H}igh {A}tlas range is an essential water resource in {M}orocco. {H}owever, there are only few meteorological stations in the high elevation areas and therefore it is challenging to estimate the distribution of snow water equivalent ({SWE}) based only on in situ measurements. {I}n this work we assessed the performance of {ERA}5 and {MERRA}-2 climate reanalysis to compute the spatial distribution of {SWE} in the {H}igh {A}tlas. {W}e forced a distributed snowpack evolution model ({S}now{M}odel) with downscaled {ERA}5 and {MERRA}-2 data at 200 m spatial resolution. {T}he model was run over the period 1981 to 2019 (37 water years). {M}odel outputs were assessed using observations of river discharge, snow height and {MODIS} snow-covered area. {T}he results show a good performance for both {MERRA}-2 and {ERA}5 in terms of reproducing the snowpack state for the majority of water years, with a lower bias using {ERA}5 forcing.},
  keywords = {{MAROC} ; snow cover ; snow water equivalent ; {M}orocco ; {MERRA}-2 ; {ERA}5 ; {MAROC} ; {HAUT} {ATLAS}},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{W}ater},
  volume = {13},
  numero = {7},
  pages = {890 [14 p.]},
  year = {2021},
  DOI = {10.3390/w13070890},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010081317},
}