This is a simple snow model with BMI (Basic Modeling Interface of CSDMS) in Fortran cooperatively-developed by Kang Wang (University of Colorado Boulder), Ross Brown (Environment Canada), and Bruce Brasnett (Canadian Meteorological Centre). It's an empirical algorithm to melt snow according to the surface temperature and increase snow depth according to the precipitation that has fallen since the last analysis time. Details of BMI-Fortran could be found at https://github.com/csdms/bmi-fortran.

If you are using this code, PLEASE CITE:

Brown, R.D., B. Brasnett and D. Robinson. 2003. Gridded North American monthly snow depth and snow water equivalent for GCM evaluation. Atmosphere-Ocean. 41:1-14. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3137/ao.410101)

The inputs [Daily] are

Standard Name	Description	Unit	Type
land_surface_air__temperature	SURFACE TEMPERATURE FIELDS (TEMPERATURES FROM THE START TO THE END OF THE INTERVAL)	deg.C	Real
precipitation_mass_flux	PRECIPITATION FIELD	mm	Real
snowpack__initial_depth	INITIAL SNOW DEPTH	cm	Real
snowpack__initial_mass-per-volume_density	INITIAL MEAN DENSITY OF SNOW PACK	kg3/m3	Real
snow_class	SNOW CLIMATE CLASS, STURM et al. (1995) [0-7]	unitless	Integer
open_area_or_not	FORESTED/OPEN FLAG FOR VALIDATING RESULTS IN BOREAL, FOREST ZONE (MOST SNOW DEPTHS MEASURED AT OPEN SITES) [1: Open, 0: Forested]	unitless	Integer
precipitation_mass_flux_adjust_factor	Adjustment factor of precipitation [0-1]. Adjust precip for canopy interception/sublimation	unitless	Real

Reference: Sturm, M., J. Holmgren, and G.E. Liston, 1995: A Seasonal Snow Cover Classification System for Local to Global Applications. J. Climate, 8, 1261–1283.

The outputs [Daily] are

Standard Name	Description	Unit	Type
snowpack__depth	SNOW DEPTH	cm	Real
snowpack__mass-per-volume_density	MEAN DENSITY OF SNOW PACK	kg3/m3	Real

1. Compile with cmake

mkdir _build && cd _build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=[install_path]
make install
source ../scripts/update_rpaths.sh
ctest

If you want to run the compiled BMI model:

cd [install_path]/bin/
./run_bmisnow_model [configuration_file]

e.g., ./run_bmisnow_model ../../Snow_BMI_Fortran/data/snow_model_test.cfg

2. How do you prepare your cases

NOTE: The input files path in configuration file may need to be changed:

Input Files Path
/Users/kangwang/Documents/simple_snow_model/

if you put the input files under the same directory to the configuration file, please leave the second line as BLANK.

Snow class map of Sturm et al. (1995) could be obtained from: https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.5065/D69G5JX5. [0.5 deg, global]

3. Example outputs at Barrow, Alaska