Modelling of snowmelt erosion and sediment yield in a small low-mountain catchment in Germany

Temporal variability and spatial heterogeneity of surface runoff generation triggers the dynamics of source areas of sediment and sediment-associated nutrient transport. Reliable modelling of hydrological special situations i.e. snowmelt is of high importance for the quality of erosion and sediment yield modelling. Data from the research catchment Schäfertal demonstrate the individuality of snowmelt events in terms of runoff coefficient and delivery ratio. This 1.44 km² low mountain catchment is characterised by a high portion of arable land with a winter grain/winter rape crop rotation. The integrated winter erosion and nutrient load model (IWAN) considers these dynamic aspects by coupling a hydrological model with a sediment load model. Cell size of this raster-based approach is 10 × 10 m². Additionally, snowmelt rill erosion is simulated with a newly developed physically based model that is firstly applied on a catchment scale. A sensitivity analysis of this model system component demonstrates the plausibility of the model approach and the overall robustness of the model system IWAN. The results of the long-term hydrological modelling from 1991 to 2003 are reliable and form the basis for the simulation of six snowmelt events which were observed in the Schäfertal catchment. The estimated total runoff volumes for these events match the observations well. The modelled overland runoff coefficients vary from 0.001 to 0.72. The mean values of cell erosion, which were modelled with one set of parameters for all six events range from 0.0006 to 0.96 t ha^− 1. The total modelled erosion for the events with unfrozen soil and low amount of surface runoff is of a factor 50 below those with partly frozen soil. In addition to these distinctions, the major differences are caused by flow accumulation in shallow depressions in variable parts of the catchment. However, the validation of these results on the single event scale is restricted due to limited spatial data. Total simulated sediment yield at the catchment outlet was as high as 13.84 t which underestimates the observed values, with the exception of one event. Oversimplification of the modelled channel processes may be a reason. The temporal variability and spatial heterogeneity of the surface roughness parameter, which was identified to be sensitive, also causes uncertainty in the parameter estimation. Despite these findings, the model system IWAN was applied successfully on the catchment scale and the simulated results are reliable.