Climate sensitivity of snow regimes simulated by physically based snow models (Invited)
Abstract
Seasonal snow regimes consist of snowfall, snow redistribution by wind, snow interception and snowmelt. Sublimation can be an important ablation mechanism under highly ventilated conditions. All of these processes are strongly controlled by the energy inputs and energy state of the snowpack. Warmer winter temperatures have been observed and are predicted for many cold regions environments. The Cold Regions Hydrological Model (CRHM) has the capability to successfully model the major snow processes in a physically based manner. It is used here to explore the sensitivity of snow regimes in three environments to warmer winter temperatures. The windswept alpine and mountain spruce forest environments use baseline data from Marmot Creek Research Basin in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada and the prairie cropland environments use data from Bad Lake Research Basin in the semi-arid prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada. Under current conditions blowing snow in both alpine and prairie environments redistributes most snowfall from wind exposed ridge and fallow-field surfaces and deposits transported snow in drifts on lee slopes, gullies and treed or shrub areas. Sublimation losses are substantial. Melt occurs in May-June in the alpine and in March-April on the Prairie. Currently, snow interception and sublimation are major losses of seasonal snowpack in mountain forest environments due to high sublimation losses. Forest melt occurs in April-May. Warming is shown to reduce sublimation losses - its restriction of wind redistribution and interception overcomes the additional energy available for sublimation. Warming also advances the timing of snowmelt initiation to varying degrees, but its effects on the rate and duration of melt are equivocal. In certain environments melt is faster and shorter in duration as warming occurs, but in others the rate diminishes with warming and so duration is not strongly affected. These results have important implications for determining the hydrological sensitivity of these cold regions environments to climate change.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFM.C23D..01P
- Keywords:
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- 1655 GLOBAL CHANGE / Water cycles;
- 1807 HYDROLOGY / Climate impacts;
- 1863 HYDROLOGY / Snow and ice