Snow modeling in SWAT

[Prajwal Neupane]

Greetings from AIT,

I'm just a beginner to use SWAT, I've selected this software for my thesis.

I've completed setting up the SWAT project for my study area (mountainous basin), initially I setup the project without defining elevation band and lapse rate and got satisfactory result (NSE=0.48 and 0.72 for daily and monthly respectively). After defining 5 elevation bands and assigning temperature lapse rate -6.95 °C/km I cannot see any changes in the model or result. Even i couldn't figure out from where I can access the result for snow cover area after simulation?

My major concern are:

1. What things should I consider while setting up model for a snow dominant basin?

2. Based on what factors should I select number of elevation band?

3. How can I assign Lapse rate (tlapse and/or plapse) while setting up the SWAT project or should I assign that before calibration in SWAT-CUP?

Looking forward to get the solution from this intellect group.

Thank you.