New Northern Snowpack Classification Linked to Vegetation Cover on a Latitudinal Mega-Transect Across Northeastern Canada
Changes in mass, extent, duration, and physical properties of snow are key elements for studying associated climate change feedbacks in northern regions. In this study, we analyzed snowpack physical properties along a ‘mega’ transect from 47°N to 83°N (4,000 km) in northeastern Canada, which include...
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Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval
2021
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ftbioone:10.1080/11956860.2021.1898775 2024-06-02T08:02:27+00:00 New Northern Snowpack Classification Linked to Vegetation Cover on a Latitudinal Mega-Transect Across Northeastern Canada Alain Royer Florent Domine Alexandre Roy Alexandre Langlois Nicolas Marchand Gautier Davesne Alain Royer Florent Domine Alexandre Roy Alexandre Langlois Nicolas Marchand Gautier Davesne world 2021-12-28 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2021.1898775 en eng Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval doi:10.1080/11956860.2021.1898775 All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2021.1898775 classification de la couverture de neige interactions neige-végétation propriétés de la neige snow cover classification snowpack properties snow–vegetation interaction Text 2021 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2021.1898775 2024-05-07T00:51:19Z Changes in mass, extent, duration, and physical properties of snow are key elements for studying associated climate change feedbacks in northern regions. In this study, we analyzed snowpack physical properties along a ‘mega’ transect from 47°N to 83°N (4,000 km) in northeastern Canada, which includes marked transitions between ecozones from boreal forest to subarctic and arctic ecosystems. Our unique dataset of 391 detailed snowpits acquired over the last 20 years, complemented with snow data from weather stations, shows that snowpack properties such as snow water equivalent, snow depth, density, grain size and basal depth hoar fraction (DHF) are strongly linked to vegetation type. Based on these results, we propose an updated classification of snow types in three classes: boreal forest snow (47–58°N), tundra snow (58–74°N) and polar desert snow (74–83°N), which is more appropriate to the study area than the general north hemisphere classification commonly used. We also show that shrub presence along the transect contributes to a significant increase in DHF development which contributes most strongly to the thermal insulation properties of the snowpack. Overall, our analysis suggests that snow–vegetation interactions have a positive feedback effect on warming at northern latitudes. Text Arctic Climate change polar desert Subarctic Tundra BioOne Online Journals Arctic Canada Écoscience 28 3-4 225 242 |
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BioOne Online Journals |
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ftbioone |
language |
English |
topic |
classification de la couverture de neige interactions neige-végétation propriétés de la neige snow cover classification snowpack properties snow–vegetation interaction |
spellingShingle |
classification de la couverture de neige interactions neige-végétation propriétés de la neige snow cover classification snowpack properties snow–vegetation interaction Alain Royer Florent Domine Alexandre Roy Alexandre Langlois Nicolas Marchand Gautier Davesne New Northern Snowpack Classification Linked to Vegetation Cover on a Latitudinal Mega-Transect Across Northeastern Canada |
topic_facet |
classification de la couverture de neige interactions neige-végétation propriétés de la neige snow cover classification snowpack properties snow–vegetation interaction |
description |
Changes in mass, extent, duration, and physical properties of snow are key elements for studying associated climate change feedbacks in northern regions. In this study, we analyzed snowpack physical properties along a ‘mega’ transect from 47°N to 83°N (4,000 km) in northeastern Canada, which includes marked transitions between ecozones from boreal forest to subarctic and arctic ecosystems. Our unique dataset of 391 detailed snowpits acquired over the last 20 years, complemented with snow data from weather stations, shows that snowpack properties such as snow water equivalent, snow depth, density, grain size and basal depth hoar fraction (DHF) are strongly linked to vegetation type. Based on these results, we propose an updated classification of snow types in three classes: boreal forest snow (47–58°N), tundra snow (58–74°N) and polar desert snow (74–83°N), which is more appropriate to the study area than the general north hemisphere classification commonly used. We also show that shrub presence along the transect contributes to a significant increase in DHF development which contributes most strongly to the thermal insulation properties of the snowpack. Overall, our analysis suggests that snow–vegetation interactions have a positive feedback effect on warming at northern latitudes. |
author2 |
Alain Royer Florent Domine Alexandre Roy Alexandre Langlois Nicolas Marchand Gautier Davesne |
format |
Text |
author |
Alain Royer Florent Domine Alexandre Roy Alexandre Langlois Nicolas Marchand Gautier Davesne |
author_facet |
Alain Royer Florent Domine Alexandre Roy Alexandre Langlois Nicolas Marchand Gautier Davesne |
author_sort |
Alain Royer |
title |
New Northern Snowpack Classification Linked to Vegetation Cover on a Latitudinal Mega-Transect Across Northeastern Canada |
title_short |
New Northern Snowpack Classification Linked to Vegetation Cover on a Latitudinal Mega-Transect Across Northeastern Canada |
title_full |
New Northern Snowpack Classification Linked to Vegetation Cover on a Latitudinal Mega-Transect Across Northeastern Canada |
title_fullStr |
New Northern Snowpack Classification Linked to Vegetation Cover on a Latitudinal Mega-Transect Across Northeastern Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
New Northern Snowpack Classification Linked to Vegetation Cover on a Latitudinal Mega-Transect Across Northeastern Canada |
title_sort |
new northern snowpack classification linked to vegetation cover on a latitudinal mega-transect across northeastern canada |
publisher |
Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2021.1898775 |
op_coverage |
world |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Arctic Climate change polar desert Subarctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change polar desert Subarctic Tundra |
op_source |
https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2021.1898775 |
op_relation |
doi:10.1080/11956860.2021.1898775 |
op_rights |
All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2021.1898775 |
container_title |
Écoscience |
container_volume |
28 |
container_issue |
3-4 |
container_start_page |
225 |
op_container_end_page |
242 |
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