Change Effects on Snow Cover, Soil Moisture and Soil Frost in the Boreal Conditions over Finland

• Main Authors: Matti Maajärvi, Harri Str, Antti Kilpeläinen, Heli Peltola
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Northern Finland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.455.4988; http://www.metla.fi/silvafennica/full/sf44/sf442213.pdf

on the climate change effects on snow cover, soil moisture and soil frost in the boreal condi-tions over Finland. Silva Fennica 44(2): 213–233. This study considered how climate change affects the accumulation of snow, the soil mois-ture and soil frost at sites without tree cover in boreal conditions in Finland (60°–70°N). An increase of 4.5 °C in annual mean temperature and 20 % in annual precipitation were assumed for Finland by the year 2100 according to A2 emission scenario. Along with climate, the soil type of the permanent inventory plots of the Finnish National Forest Inventory was used. Soil and climate data were combined by using a process-based ecosystem model. Calculations were done for four periods: current climate (1971–2000), near future (2001–2020), mid-term future (2021–2050) and long-term future (2071–2100). According to our simulations, the average monthly duration and depth of snow decreased over the simulation period. However, the increasing precipitation may locally increase the snow depths in the mid-term calculations. In the autumn and winter, the average volumetric soil moisture content slightly increased in southern Finland during the near future, but decreased towards the end of the century, but still remained on a higher level than presently. In northern Finland, the soil moisture in the autumn