NDLI: Causes of recent changes in western North American snowpack

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Kapnick, Sarah Hall, Alex
Copyright Year	2011
Abstract	Monthly snow water equivalent (SWE) station observations and gridded temperature data are used to identify mechanisms by which warming affects the temporal and geographical structure of changes in western North American mountain snowpack. We first exploit interannual variability to demonstrate the sensitivity of snowpack to temperature during the various phases of the snow season. We show that mechanisms whereby temperature affects snowpack emerge in the mid to late portion of the snow season (March through May), but are nearly absent during the earliest phase (February), when temperatures are generally well below freezing. The mid to late snow season is precisely when significant loss of snowpack is seen at nearly all locations over the past few decades, both through decreases in snow accumulation and increases in snowmelt. At locations where April 1st SWE has been increasing over the past few decades, the increase is entirely due to a significant enhancement of accumulation during the earliest phase of the snow season, when the sensitivity analysis indicates that temperature is not expected to affect snowpack. Later in the snow season, these stations exhibit significant snowpack loss comparable to the other stations. Based on this analysis, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that recent snowpack changes in western North America are caused by regional-scale warming. Given predictions of future warming, a further reduction in late season snowpack and advancement in the onset of snowmelt should be expected in the coming decades throughout the region.
Starting Page	1885
Ending Page	1899
Page Count	15
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09307575
Journal	Climate Dynamics
Volume Number	38
Issue Number	9-10
e-ISSN	14320894
Language	English
Publisher	Springer-Verlag
Publisher Date	2011-05-14
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Snow water equivalent Climate change Climate sensitivity Trends Surface observations Meteorology/Climatology Oceanography Geophysics/Geodesy
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Atmospheric Science

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Warmer climate: less or more snow?

Climate dynamics manuscript no. (will be inserted by the editor) causes of recent changes in western north american.

The contribution of snow condition trends to future ground climate

21st Century changes in snow climate in Northern Europe: a high-resolution view from ENSEMBLES regional climate models

Attribution of spring snow water equivalent (SWE) changes over the northern hemisphere to anthropogenic effects

Climate sensitivity and climate change under strong forcing

Climate sensitivity to tropical land surface changes with coupled versus prescribed SSTs

Examining evapotranspiration trends in Africa

Alpine snow cover in a changing climate: a regional climate model perspective

Causes of recent changes in western North American snowpack

Similar Documents

Warmer climate: less or more snow?

Climate dynamics manuscript no. (will be inserted by the editor) causes of recent changes in western north american.

The contribution of snow condition trends to future ground climate

21st Century changes in snow climate in Northern Europe: a high-resolution view from ENSEMBLES regional climate models

Attribution of spring snow water equivalent (SWE) changes over the northern hemisphere to anthropogenic effects

Climate sensitivity and climate change under strong forcing

Climate sensitivity to tropical land surface changes with coupled versus prescribed SSTs

Examining evapotranspiration trends in Africa

Alpine snow cover in a changing climate: a regional climate model perspective

Causes of recent changes in western North American snowpack