Snow and albedo climate change impacts across the United States Northern Great Plains
In areas with a seasonal snowpack, a warmer climate could cause less snowfall, a shallower snowpack, and a change in the timing of snowmelt, all which could reduce the winter albedo and yield an increase in net short-wave radiation. Trends in temperature, precipitation (total and as snow), days with...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2016-02-01
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| Series: | The Cryosphere |
| Online Access: | http://www.the-cryosphere.net/10/329/2016/tc-10-329-2016.pdf |
| Summary: | In areas with a seasonal snowpack, a warmer climate could cause less
snowfall, a shallower snowpack, and a change in the timing of snowmelt, all
which could reduce the winter albedo and yield an increase in net short-wave
radiation. Trends in temperature, precipitation (total and as snow), days
with precipitation and snow, and winter albedo were investigated over the
60-year period from 1951 to 2010 for 20 meteorological stations across the
Northern Great Plains. This is an area where snow accumulation is shallow but
persistent for most of the winter (November to March). The most
consistent trends were minimum temperature and days with precipitation, both
of which increased at a majority of the stations. Among the stations
included, a decrease in the modelled winter albedo was more prevalent than an
increase. There was substantial spatial variability in the climate trends.
For most variables, the period of record used influenced the magnitude and
sign of the significant trends. |
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| ISSN: | 1994-0416 1994-0424 |