Global snow drought hot spots and characteristics
Snow plays a fundamental role in global water resources, climate, and biogeochemical processes; however, no global snow drought assessments currently exist. Changes in the duration and intensity of droughts can significantly impact ecosystems, food and water security, agriculture, hydropower, and th...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt3w06b083 2023-09-05T13:17:38+02:00 Global snow drought hot spots and characteristics Huning, Laurie S AghaKouchak, Amir 19753 - 19759 2020-08-18 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3w06b083 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt3w06b083 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3w06b083 public Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 117, iss 33 Affordable and Clean Energy snow drought climate water resources hydrology article 2020 ftcdlib 2023-08-21T18:07:21Z Snow plays a fundamental role in global water resources, climate, and biogeochemical processes; however, no global snow drought assessments currently exist. Changes in the duration and intensity of droughts can significantly impact ecosystems, food and water security, agriculture, hydropower, and the socioeconomics of a region. We characterize the duration and intensity of snow droughts (snow water equivalent deficits) worldwide and differences in their distributions over 1980 to 2018. We find that snow droughts became more prevalent, intensified, and lengthened across the western United States (WUS). Eastern Russia, Europe, and the WUS emerged as hot spots for snow droughts, experiencing ∼2, 16, and 28% longer snow drought durations, respectively, in the latter half of 1980 to 2018. In this second half of the record, these regions exhibited a higher probability (relative to the first half of the record) of having a snow drought exceed the average intensity from the first period by 3, 4, and 15%. The Hindu Kush and Central Asia, extratropical Andes, greater Himalayas, and Patagonia, however, experienced decreases (percent changes) in the average snow drought duration (-4, -7, -8, and -16%, respectively). Although we do not attempt to separate natural and human influences with a detailed attribution analysis, we discuss some relevant physical processes (e.g., Arctic amplification and polar vortex movement) that likely contribute to observed changes in snow drought characteristics. We also demonstrate how our framework can facilitate drought monitoring and assessment by examining two snow deficits that posed large socioeconomic challenges in the WUS (2014/2015) and Afghanistan (2017/2018). Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic University of California: eScholarship Arctic Patagonia |
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University of California: eScholarship |
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Affordable and Clean Energy snow drought climate water resources hydrology |
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Affordable and Clean Energy snow drought climate water resources hydrology Huning, Laurie S AghaKouchak, Amir Global snow drought hot spots and characteristics |
topic_facet |
Affordable and Clean Energy snow drought climate water resources hydrology |
description |
Snow plays a fundamental role in global water resources, climate, and biogeochemical processes; however, no global snow drought assessments currently exist. Changes in the duration and intensity of droughts can significantly impact ecosystems, food and water security, agriculture, hydropower, and the socioeconomics of a region. We characterize the duration and intensity of snow droughts (snow water equivalent deficits) worldwide and differences in their distributions over 1980 to 2018. We find that snow droughts became more prevalent, intensified, and lengthened across the western United States (WUS). Eastern Russia, Europe, and the WUS emerged as hot spots for snow droughts, experiencing ∼2, 16, and 28% longer snow drought durations, respectively, in the latter half of 1980 to 2018. In this second half of the record, these regions exhibited a higher probability (relative to the first half of the record) of having a snow drought exceed the average intensity from the first period by 3, 4, and 15%. The Hindu Kush and Central Asia, extratropical Andes, greater Himalayas, and Patagonia, however, experienced decreases (percent changes) in the average snow drought duration (-4, -7, -8, and -16%, respectively). Although we do not attempt to separate natural and human influences with a detailed attribution analysis, we discuss some relevant physical processes (e.g., Arctic amplification and polar vortex movement) that likely contribute to observed changes in snow drought characteristics. We also demonstrate how our framework can facilitate drought monitoring and assessment by examining two snow deficits that posed large socioeconomic challenges in the WUS (2014/2015) and Afghanistan (2017/2018). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Huning, Laurie S AghaKouchak, Amir |
author_facet |
Huning, Laurie S AghaKouchak, Amir |
author_sort |
Huning, Laurie S |
title |
Global snow drought hot spots and characteristics |
title_short |
Global snow drought hot spots and characteristics |
title_full |
Global snow drought hot spots and characteristics |
title_fullStr |
Global snow drought hot spots and characteristics |
title_full_unstemmed |
Global snow drought hot spots and characteristics |
title_sort |
global snow drought hot spots and characteristics |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3w06b083 |
op_coverage |
19753 - 19759 |
geographic |
Arctic Patagonia |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Patagonia |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 117, iss 33 |
op_relation |
qt3w06b083 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3w06b083 |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1776198737087954944 |