Parametrization of snow accumulation under forest canopy for INM RAS-MSU land surface model

Snow accumulation and melting is one of the most important processes to be simulated by a land surface model. Snow parameterization schemes have been constructed to be applicable to areas without vegetation until the 90s of the 20th century. Even nowadays, only a few of the most advanced Earth system models (for example, CLM, SiB) include sophisticated parameterizations of snow cover including under-canopy snow storage. This paper presents a new snow cover parameterization in the INM RAS-MSU land surface scheme explicitly taking into account snow accumulation under vegetation canopy. The thus updated scheme has been tested using measurement data for the Severnaya Dvina River basin. The new snow scheme takes into account more physical processes that are specific to forested river catchments. This is a necessary step to improve the simulation of water and heat balances in boreal regions.