Multi-decadal analysis of past winter temperature, precipitation and snow cover data in the European Alps from reanalyses, climate models and observational datasets
Assessing past distributions, variability and trends in the mountain snow cover and its first-order drivers, temperature and precipitation, is key for a wide range of studies and applications. In this study, we compare the results of various modeling systems (global and regional reanalyses ERA5, ERA...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f2a6d4bf16944adba982e1d314b20251 2023-10-01T03:59:49+02:00 Multi-decadal analysis of past winter temperature, precipitation and snow cover data in the European Alps from reanalyses, climate models and observational datasets D. Monteiro S. Morin 2023-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3617-2023 https://doaj.org/article/f2a6d4bf16944adba982e1d314b20251 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/3617/2023/tc-17-3617-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-3617-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/f2a6d4bf16944adba982e1d314b20251 The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 3617-3660 (2023) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3617-2023 2023-09-03T00:52:54Z Assessing past distributions, variability and trends in the mountain snow cover and its first-order drivers, temperature and precipitation, is key for a wide range of studies and applications. In this study, we compare the results of various modeling systems (global and regional reanalyses ERA5, ERA5-Land, ERA5-Crocus, CERRA-Land, UERRA MESCAN-SURFEX and MTMSI and regional climate model simulations CNRM-ALADIN and CNRM-AROME driven by the global reanalysis ERA-Interim) against observational references (in situ, gridded observational datasets and satellite observations) across the European Alps from 1950 to 2020. The comparisons are performed in terms of monthly and seasonal snow cover variables (snow depth and snow cover duration) and their main atmospherical drivers (near-surface temperature and precipitation). We assess multi-annual averages of regional and subregional mean values, their interannual variations, and trends over various timescales, mainly for the winter period (from November through April). ERA5, ERA5-Crocus, MESCAN-SURFEX, CERRA-Land and MTMSI offer a satisfying description of the monthly snow evolution. However, a spatial comparison against satellite observation indicates that all datasets overestimate the snow cover duration, especially the melt-out date. CNRM-AROME and CNRM-ALADIN simulations and ERA5-Land exhibit an overestimation of the snow accumulation during winter, increasing with elevations. The analysis of the interannual variability and trends indicates that modeling snow cover dynamics remains complex across multiple scales and that none of the models evaluated here fully succeed to reproduce this compared to observational reference datasets. Indeed, while most of the evaluated model outputs perform well at representing the interannual to multi-decadal winter temperature and precipitation variability, they often fail to address the variability in the snow depth and snow cover duration. We discuss several artifacts potentially responsible for incorrect long-term climate trends in ... Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles The Cryosphere 17 8 3617 3660 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
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Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 D. Monteiro S. Morin Multi-decadal analysis of past winter temperature, precipitation and snow cover data in the European Alps from reanalyses, climate models and observational datasets |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Assessing past distributions, variability and trends in the mountain snow cover and its first-order drivers, temperature and precipitation, is key for a wide range of studies and applications. In this study, we compare the results of various modeling systems (global and regional reanalyses ERA5, ERA5-Land, ERA5-Crocus, CERRA-Land, UERRA MESCAN-SURFEX and MTMSI and regional climate model simulations CNRM-ALADIN and CNRM-AROME driven by the global reanalysis ERA-Interim) against observational references (in situ, gridded observational datasets and satellite observations) across the European Alps from 1950 to 2020. The comparisons are performed in terms of monthly and seasonal snow cover variables (snow depth and snow cover duration) and their main atmospherical drivers (near-surface temperature and precipitation). We assess multi-annual averages of regional and subregional mean values, their interannual variations, and trends over various timescales, mainly for the winter period (from November through April). ERA5, ERA5-Crocus, MESCAN-SURFEX, CERRA-Land and MTMSI offer a satisfying description of the monthly snow evolution. However, a spatial comparison against satellite observation indicates that all datasets overestimate the snow cover duration, especially the melt-out date. CNRM-AROME and CNRM-ALADIN simulations and ERA5-Land exhibit an overestimation of the snow accumulation during winter, increasing with elevations. The analysis of the interannual variability and trends indicates that modeling snow cover dynamics remains complex across multiple scales and that none of the models evaluated here fully succeed to reproduce this compared to observational reference datasets. Indeed, while most of the evaluated model outputs perform well at representing the interannual to multi-decadal winter temperature and precipitation variability, they often fail to address the variability in the snow depth and snow cover duration. We discuss several artifacts potentially responsible for incorrect long-term climate trends in ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
D. Monteiro S. Morin |
author_facet |
D. Monteiro S. Morin |
author_sort |
D. Monteiro |
title |
Multi-decadal analysis of past winter temperature, precipitation and snow cover data in the European Alps from reanalyses, climate models and observational datasets |
title_short |
Multi-decadal analysis of past winter temperature, precipitation and snow cover data in the European Alps from reanalyses, climate models and observational datasets |
title_full |
Multi-decadal analysis of past winter temperature, precipitation and snow cover data in the European Alps from reanalyses, climate models and observational datasets |
title_fullStr |
Multi-decadal analysis of past winter temperature, precipitation and snow cover data in the European Alps from reanalyses, climate models and observational datasets |
title_full_unstemmed |
Multi-decadal analysis of past winter temperature, precipitation and snow cover data in the European Alps from reanalyses, climate models and observational datasets |
title_sort |
multi-decadal analysis of past winter temperature, precipitation and snow cover data in the european alps from reanalyses, climate models and observational datasets |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3617-2023 https://doaj.org/article/f2a6d4bf16944adba982e1d314b20251 |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 3617-3660 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/3617/2023/tc-17-3617-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-3617-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/f2a6d4bf16944adba982e1d314b20251 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3617-2023 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
3617 |
op_container_end_page |
3660 |
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1778534287061024768 |