Future changes in snowmelt-driven runoff timing over the western US
Abstract
We use a high-resolution nested climate model to investigate future changes in snowmelt-driven runoff (SDR) over the western US. Comparison of modeled and observed daily runoff data reveals that the regional model captures the present-day timing and trends of SDR. Results from an A2 scenario simulation indicate that increases in seasonal temperature of approximately 3° to 5°C resulting from increasing greenhouse gas concentrations could cause SDR to occur as much as two months earlier than present. These large changes result from an amplified snow-albedo feedback driven by the topographic complexity of the region, which is more accurately resolved in a high-resolution nested climate model. Earlier SDR could affect water storage in reservoirs and hydroelectric generation, with serious consequences for land use, agriculture, and water management in the American West.
- Publication:
-
Geophysical Research Letters
- Pub Date:
- August 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1029/2008GL034424
- Bibcode:
- 2008GeoRL..3516703R
- Keywords:
-
- Global Change: Regional climate change;
- Global Change: Water cycles (1836);
- Geodesy and Gravity: Global change from geodesy (1222;
- 1622;
- 1630;
- 1641;
- 1645;
- 4556)