Patterns of snowcover energetics over different land cover and topographic position with variations in climate
Abstract
Snow is an important natural reservoir that stores water from winter precipitation for release later during the growing season in western North America and other mountain regions of the world. As air temperature increases with global climate change, the character of the generally established seasonal snowcover will be affected. In order to study the snowcover specific response to variable climate conditions we use a carefully collected and processed meteorological dataset for the 1984-2008 water years to force a physically-based, distributed energy balance snow model. Patterns of snowcover development and ablation over the catchment are evaluated and compared over the 25-year period. This period covers both the highest (1984) and lowest (1992) snow seasons on record and exhibits extreme inter-annual variability. The basin was then divided into six land cover types - two topographic (drift and scour), two forest (fir and aspen), and high and low shrubs. In an effort understand how variations in climate can alter the development of the seasonal snowcover, the timing and magnitude of melt, and the delivery of water to the soil for each land cover class, we present detailed evaluations of precipitation, snowcover development, duration, the temporal distribution of melt, and surface water input (SWI). These were then evaluated for the snowcover energy state - Rn, H, LvE, G, M, cold content, to determine the dominant energy term, the overall hydrologic contribution of each class, and how this changes under different climate conditions. This analysis will provide information on how climate warming will impact the hydrology and ecosystems in western mountain basins.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.C41B0608M
- Keywords:
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- 0736 CRYOSPHERE Snow;
- 0740 CRYOSPHERE Snowmelt;
- 0798 CRYOSPHERE Modeling