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Snowpack Melt Runoff (2D): Degree-Day Snowmelt & Streamflow

2D degree-day snowmelt model: air temperature and solar radiation drive melt from a mountain snowpack, its snow-water equivalent depletes, and the meltwater runoff traces a live spring-pulse hydrograph.

Fluid Dynamics & Aerodynamics2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

This 2D companion swaps the WebGL mountain flythrough for the same degree-day snowmelt model driving it: air temperature, cooled by elevation through the environmental lapse rate, and solar radiation set how fast the mountain's snow-water equivalent depletes, while a warm rain pulse button lets you push a sharp melt spike through the system. The right-hand hydrograph traces the resulting runoff over model time, tracking the classic single-peaked spring melt pulse hydrologists forecast from exactly this kind of temperature-index model.

⚙ Under the hood

Degree-day (temperature-index) snowmelt model: T_eff = T_sea − 6.5°C per 1000 m of snowline elevation (lapse rate), melt = max(0, T_eff) · (solar/100) · (1 + rain_boost) in mm SWE/day, and the snow-water equivalent depletes accordingly while runoff flow scales with the current melt rate — the same approach used to forecast real spring snowmelt streamflow.

Melt RunoffSolar RadiationFluid Dynamicssnow-water equivalentdegree-day modelhydrograph

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install