Snow Hydrology in Central Europe

This article describes the role of snow in the hydrological cycle in mountainous areas of central Europe (the Austrian Alps, Bohemian Massif, Western and Ukrainian Carpathians), presents a review of articles devoted to snow hydrology in the region and addresses the issues that seem to be focal areas of research in the near future. The last 60 years of snow hydrology research in central Europe, which was in many aspects comparable with research foci worldwide, provided a lot of knowledge on snow measurements, spatial and temporal distribution and modeling. However, despite continuous development of mathematical models and measurements of snow characteristics at meteorological stations and snow courses, current research seems to be mainly focused on testing new methods of obtaining snow cover data, e. g. using satellite images or terrestrial laser scanning. Combined application of snowmelt modeling, tracers and analyses of hydrological response of small catchments, especially during periods with diurnal runoff oscillations may extend knowledge on snow-influenced runoff generation.