Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of surface energy fluxes in pan-Arctic snow cover changes
AU - Shi, Xiaogang
AU - Groisman, Pavel Ya
AU - Déry, Stephen J.
AU - Lettenmaier, Dennis P.
PY - 2011/9/26
Y1 - 2011/9/26
N2 - We analyze snow cover extent (SCE) trends in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) northern hemisphere weekly satellite SCE data using the Mann-Kendall trend test and find that North American and Eurasian snow cover in the pan-Arctic have declined significantly in spring and summer over the period of satellite record beginning in the early 1970s. These trends are reproduced, both in trend direction and statistical significance, in reconstructions using the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) hydrological model. We find that spring and summer surface radiative and turbulent fluxes generated in VIC have strong correlations with satellite observations of SCE. We identify the role of surface energy fluxes and determine which is most responsible for the observed spring and summer SCE recession. We find that positive trends in surface net radiation (SNR) accompany most of the SCE trends, whereas modeled latent heat (LH) and sensible heat (SH) trends associated with warming on SCE mostly cancel each other, except for North America in spring, and to a lesser extent for Eurasia in summer. In spring over North America and summer in Eurasia, the SH contribution to the observed snow cover trends is substantial. The results indicate that ΔSNR is the primary energy source and ΔSH plays a secondary role in changes of SCE. Compared with ΔSNR and ΔSH, ΔLH has a minor influence on pan-Arctic snow cover changes.
AB - We analyze snow cover extent (SCE) trends in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) northern hemisphere weekly satellite SCE data using the Mann-Kendall trend test and find that North American and Eurasian snow cover in the pan-Arctic have declined significantly in spring and summer over the period of satellite record beginning in the early 1970s. These trends are reproduced, both in trend direction and statistical significance, in reconstructions using the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) hydrological model. We find that spring and summer surface radiative and turbulent fluxes generated in VIC have strong correlations with satellite observations of SCE. We identify the role of surface energy fluxes and determine which is most responsible for the observed spring and summer SCE recession. We find that positive trends in surface net radiation (SNR) accompany most of the SCE trends, whereas modeled latent heat (LH) and sensible heat (SH) trends associated with warming on SCE mostly cancel each other, except for North America in spring, and to a lesser extent for Eurasia in summer. In spring over North America and summer in Eurasia, the SH contribution to the observed snow cover trends is substantial. The results indicate that ΔSNR is the primary energy source and ΔSH plays a secondary role in changes of SCE. Compared with ΔSNR and ΔSH, ΔLH has a minor influence on pan-Arctic snow cover changes.
KW - pan-Arctic
KW - recession
KW - snow cover
KW - surface energy fluxes
U2 - 10.1088/1748-9326/6/3/035204
DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/6/3/035204
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:80053465499
VL - 6
JO - Environmental Research Letters
JF - Environmental Research Letters
SN - 1748-9326
IS - 3
M1 - 035204
ER -