Snow hydrology studies in the mountainous eastern part of Turkey

Snowmelt runoff in the mountainous eastern part of Turkey constitutes 60-70% in volume of the total yearly runoff during spring and early summer months. Forecasting the amount and timing of snowmelt runoff is an important task in order to use the water resources. An evaluation of climate conditions is compared at 3 meteorological and snow stations, located in Erzurum Kirkgoze (Cipak) basin. The data obtained from the stations are integrated into daily average time series of wind, temperature, humidity, air pressure, soil temperature, solar radiation, precipitation, snow pressure and depth above the snow pillow. Snowmelt runoff model is used in conjunction with remote sensing and geographic information systems to forecast the river discharges in the Kirkgoze Basin. It is shown that the sufficient and qualified climate data can be collected in a real time from 3 stations, having different aspects and altitudes, in a mountainous basin with high snow potential.