Northern Research Basins Water Balance (Proceedings of a workshop held at Victoria, Canada, March 2004). IAHS Publ. 290, 2004, 41–49

1 Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0819, Japan

2 Frontier Observational Research System for Global Change, Yokohama 236-0001, Japan

Abstract Annual water balance was estimated from simulation results of a land surface model that can simulate a full year’s hydrological cycle. Simulated results of snow distribution and river runoff agreed with observation results reasonably well. Simulation results suggest that snow redistribution and sublimation by wind are important processes for the water balance of this region. An increase in wind speed in winter increases movement and quantity of drifting snow and snowdrift. These result in the delay of snowmelt, decrease of river runoff in the first half of summer, and an increase in the second half of summer.

Key words annual water balance; climate change; land surface model; Siberia; snow distribution; sublimation