Historical Trends and Projections of Snow Cover over the High Arctic: A Review
Snow is the dominant form of precipitation and the main cryospheric feature of the High Arctic (HA) covering its land, sea, lake and river ice surfaces for a large part of the year. The snow cover in the HA is involved in climate feedbacks that influence the global climate system, and greatly impact...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:2feb91c455b345e798c8412f92fca413 2023-05-15T14:51:16+02:00 Historical Trends and Projections of Snow Cover over the High Arctic: A Review Hadi Mohammadzadeh Khani Christophe Kinnard Esther Lévesque 2022-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/w14040587 https://doaj.org/article/2feb91c455b345e798c8412f92fca413 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/4/587 https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4441 doi:10.3390/w14040587 2073-4441 https://doaj.org/article/2feb91c455b345e798c8412f92fca413 Water, Vol 14, Iss 587, p 587 (2022) High Arctic snow cover historical and projected changes snow cover extent snow cover duration snow depth Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/w14040587 2022-12-31T04:11:31Z Snow is the dominant form of precipitation and the main cryospheric feature of the High Arctic (HA) covering its land, sea, lake and river ice surfaces for a large part of the year. The snow cover in the HA is involved in climate feedbacks that influence the global climate system, and greatly impacts the hydrology and the ecosystems of the coldest biomes of the Northern Hemisphere. The ongoing global warming trend and its polar amplification is threatening the long-term stability of the snow cover in the HA. This study presents an extensive review of the literature on observed and projected snow cover conditions in the High Arctic region. Several key snow cover metrics were reviewed, including snowfall, snow cover duration (SCD), snow cover extent (SCE), snow depth (SD), and snow water equivalent (SWE) since 1930 based on in situ, remote sensing and simulations results. Changes in snow metrics were reviewed and outlined from the continental to the local scale. The reviewed snow metrics displayed different sensitivities to past and projected changes in precipitation and air temperature. Despite the overall increase in snowfall, both observed from historical data and projected into the future, some snow cover metrics displayed consistent decreasing trends, with SCE and SCD showing the most widespread and steady decreases over the last century in the HA, particularly in the spring and summer seasons. However, snow depth and, in some regions SWE, have mostly increased; nevertheless, both SD and SWE are projected to decrease by 2030. By the end of the century, the extent of Arctic spring snow cover will be considerably less than today (10–35%). Model simulations project higher winter snowfall, higher or lower maximum snow depth depending on regions, and a shortened snow season by the end of the century. The spatial pattern of snow metrics trends for both historical and projected climates exhibit noticeable asymmetry among the different HA sectors, with the largest observed and anticipated changes occurring over the ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Global warming Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Water 14 4 587 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
High Arctic snow cover historical and projected changes snow cover extent snow cover duration snow depth Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500 |
spellingShingle |
High Arctic snow cover historical and projected changes snow cover extent snow cover duration snow depth Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500 Hadi Mohammadzadeh Khani Christophe Kinnard Esther Lévesque Historical Trends and Projections of Snow Cover over the High Arctic: A Review |
topic_facet |
High Arctic snow cover historical and projected changes snow cover extent snow cover duration snow depth Hydraulic engineering TC1-978 Water supply for domestic and industrial purposes TD201-500 |
description |
Snow is the dominant form of precipitation and the main cryospheric feature of the High Arctic (HA) covering its land, sea, lake and river ice surfaces for a large part of the year. The snow cover in the HA is involved in climate feedbacks that influence the global climate system, and greatly impacts the hydrology and the ecosystems of the coldest biomes of the Northern Hemisphere. The ongoing global warming trend and its polar amplification is threatening the long-term stability of the snow cover in the HA. This study presents an extensive review of the literature on observed and projected snow cover conditions in the High Arctic region. Several key snow cover metrics were reviewed, including snowfall, snow cover duration (SCD), snow cover extent (SCE), snow depth (SD), and snow water equivalent (SWE) since 1930 based on in situ, remote sensing and simulations results. Changes in snow metrics were reviewed and outlined from the continental to the local scale. The reviewed snow metrics displayed different sensitivities to past and projected changes in precipitation and air temperature. Despite the overall increase in snowfall, both observed from historical data and projected into the future, some snow cover metrics displayed consistent decreasing trends, with SCE and SCD showing the most widespread and steady decreases over the last century in the HA, particularly in the spring and summer seasons. However, snow depth and, in some regions SWE, have mostly increased; nevertheless, both SD and SWE are projected to decrease by 2030. By the end of the century, the extent of Arctic spring snow cover will be considerably less than today (10–35%). Model simulations project higher winter snowfall, higher or lower maximum snow depth depending on regions, and a shortened snow season by the end of the century. The spatial pattern of snow metrics trends for both historical and projected climates exhibit noticeable asymmetry among the different HA sectors, with the largest observed and anticipated changes occurring over the ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hadi Mohammadzadeh Khani Christophe Kinnard Esther Lévesque |
author_facet |
Hadi Mohammadzadeh Khani Christophe Kinnard Esther Lévesque |
author_sort |
Hadi Mohammadzadeh Khani |
title |
Historical Trends and Projections of Snow Cover over the High Arctic: A Review |
title_short |
Historical Trends and Projections of Snow Cover over the High Arctic: A Review |
title_full |
Historical Trends and Projections of Snow Cover over the High Arctic: A Review |
title_fullStr |
Historical Trends and Projections of Snow Cover over the High Arctic: A Review |
title_full_unstemmed |
Historical Trends and Projections of Snow Cover over the High Arctic: A Review |
title_sort |
historical trends and projections of snow cover over the high arctic: a review |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/w14040587 https://doaj.org/article/2feb91c455b345e798c8412f92fca413 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Global warming |
genre_facet |
Arctic Global warming |
op_source |
Water, Vol 14, Iss 587, p 587 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/4/587 https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4441 doi:10.3390/w14040587 2073-4441 https://doaj.org/article/2feb91c455b345e798c8412f92fca413 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/w14040587 |
container_title |
Water |
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14 |
container_issue |
4 |
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587 |
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