Long-term variability and trends in the shortwave albedo of North America Rocky Mountains detected from coarse resolution satellite data as indicator of changing climate
Abstract
Shortwave (SW) albedo of mountainous regions serves as indicator of climate change. SW albedo for relatively low altitudes may reduce due to shrinking of snow/ice pack in the warming climate. For high elevations, albedo may change due to changes in amount of precipitation (snow). We analysed coarse resolution satellite data available from AVHRR and International Cloud Climatology Project to detect variations and trends of shortwave albedo over Canadian Rocky Mountains from 1983 to 2000. Despite quite substantial interannual variability, there exist well-defined negative trends in SW albedo for mid summer (July) conditions. For 11 selected regions, that cover areas from 45N to 65N, the average observed trends varied from -3.3 to -8.6 percent for decade. Average trend is -6.1 percent for decade. Similar negative trends are detected from satellite radiation budget missions, such as ERBE and CERES.
- Publication:
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AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2004
- Bibcode:
- 2004AGUSMGC23A..05T
- Keywords:
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- 0360 Transmission and scattering of radiation;
- 1640 Remote sensing