Figure Captions:
FIGURE 1 Location of the study area: (a) Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed (RCEW) in Idaho, USA. (b) Reynolds Mountain within RCEW. (c) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Reynolds Mountain.
FIGURE 2 Physiographic characteristics of the Reynolds Mountain basin including (a) elevation range, (b) slope, and (c) aspect.
FIGURE 3 Hydrologic response units (HRUs) used for hydrological modeling in Reynolds Mountain (22 HRUs) classified based on vegetation type and topographic characteristics.
FIGURE 4 Evaluation of the modeled snow water equivalent (SWE) against observations at the snow pillow site in Reynolds Mountain during 1984-2008. The blue line represents observed SWE, the red line represents modeled SWE, and the black line shows cumulative snowfall in respective winters.
FIGURE 5 Comparison between observed lidar snow depth and simulated snow depth in meters.
FIGURE 6 Correlation between regional climatic teleconnections and hydrological fluxes at local scales, includingta : mean annual air temperature,tw : mean air temperature in winter, P : mean annual precipitation, Rain: mean annual rainfall,Rainratio : proportional ratio of annual rainfall to total solid and liquid annual precipitation; Snow: total annual snowfall, Runoff: total annual runoff from snowmelt and rainfall,Rratio : proportional ratio of annual runoff to total solid and liquid annual precipitation, RROS: runoff generated during rain-on-snow events, SWE : annual peak snow water equivalent, SWEdate : timing of the peak snow water equivalent. Points at y = 0 indicate that the highest correlations are between the same year teleconnections and hydrological fluxes. Points below zero indicate a one-year lagged correlation meaning that the hydrological flux is affected by teleconnections in the preceding year. Points above zero indicate that the hydrological flux is affected by teleconnections in the following year.
FIGURE 7 Identification of six hydroclimatic phases based on the decomposed time series of daily precipitation over 1983-2014 and first eigenvector of the singular spectrum analysis (SSA), representing an intermediate (multiple year) frequency of the precipitation variations.
FIGURE 8 Anomalies of observed precipitation, winter air temperature, modeled rainfall ratio, observed runoff ratio and the selected teleconnection indices over the period of 1993-2014. These indices are Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies in the Niño 3.4 region of Equatorial Pacific Ocean, Arctic Oscillation (AO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and Pacific North American index (PNA). Vertical lines separate the six hydroclimatic phases.
FIGURE 9 (a) Total mean annual runoff generated during rain on snow (ROS) events based on snow cover and rainfall occurrence and (b) its anomalies relative to the long-term averages in four blowing snow regimes, including source, sink, sheltered forest, and forest with intercepted snow on the canopy in Reynolds Mountain in different hydroclimatic phases. Heterogeneity of snow cover due to topography and redistribution of snow by blowing wind affects the runoff generated during rain on snow events. Snow transport to sinks and topographic depressions with drifted snow can intensify snowmelt in spring and early summer when the likelihood of precipitation to fall as rain is high.
FIGURE 10 Distributed modeled peak SWE and annual runoff for each of the six hydroclimatic phases: Phase one – high flow under negative phases of AO and SST; Phase two – warm and dry under positive NAO and AO; Phase three – cold and high rain on snow runoff under negative AO and positive AAO; Phase four – warm conditions under positive PNA; Phase five – normal conditions under positive PNA pattern and negative NAO; and Phase six – warm and dry under negative PNA and positive NAO.