Unraveling driving forces explaining significant reduction in satellite-inferred Arctic surface albedo since the 1980s
The Arctic has warmed significantly since the early 1980s and much of this warming can be attributed to the surface albedo feedback. In this study, satellite observations reveal a 1.25 to 1.51% per decade absolute reduction in the Arctic mean surface albedo in spring and summer during 1982 to 2014....
Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1577972 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1577972 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915258116 |
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1577972 2023-07-30T03:55:37+02:00 Unraveling driving forces explaining significant reduction in satellite-inferred Arctic surface albedo since the 1980s Zhang, Rudong Wang, Hailong Fu, Qiang Rasch, Philip J. Wang, Xuanji 2023-06-30 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1577972 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1577972 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915258116 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1577972 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1577972 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915258116 doi:10.1073/pnas.1915258116 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 2023 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915258116 2023-07-11T09:38:27Z The Arctic has warmed significantly since the early 1980s and much of this warming can be attributed to the surface albedo feedback. In this study, satellite observations reveal a 1.25 to 1.51% per decade absolute reduction in the Arctic mean surface albedo in spring and summer during 1982 to 2014. Results from a global model and reanalysis data are used to unravel the causes of this albedo reduction. We find that reductions of terrestrial snow cover, snow cover fraction over sea ice, and sea ice extent appear to contribute equally to the Arctic albedo decline. We show that the decrease in snow cover fraction is primarily driven by the increase in surface air temperature, followed by declining snowfall. Although the total precipitation has increased as the Arctic warms, Arctic snowfall is reduced substantially in all analyzed data sets. Light-absorbing soot in snow has been decreasing in past decades over the Arctic, indicating that soot heating has not been the driver of changes in the Arctic snow cover, ice cover, and surface albedo since the 1980s. Other/Unknown Material albedo Arctic Sea ice SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Arctic Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 48 23947 23953 |
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Open Polar |
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SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
op_collection_id |
ftosti |
language |
unknown |
topic |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
spellingShingle |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Zhang, Rudong Wang, Hailong Fu, Qiang Rasch, Philip J. Wang, Xuanji Unraveling driving forces explaining significant reduction in satellite-inferred Arctic surface albedo since the 1980s |
topic_facet |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
description |
The Arctic has warmed significantly since the early 1980s and much of this warming can be attributed to the surface albedo feedback. In this study, satellite observations reveal a 1.25 to 1.51% per decade absolute reduction in the Arctic mean surface albedo in spring and summer during 1982 to 2014. Results from a global model and reanalysis data are used to unravel the causes of this albedo reduction. We find that reductions of terrestrial snow cover, snow cover fraction over sea ice, and sea ice extent appear to contribute equally to the Arctic albedo decline. We show that the decrease in snow cover fraction is primarily driven by the increase in surface air temperature, followed by declining snowfall. Although the total precipitation has increased as the Arctic warms, Arctic snowfall is reduced substantially in all analyzed data sets. Light-absorbing soot in snow has been decreasing in past decades over the Arctic, indicating that soot heating has not been the driver of changes in the Arctic snow cover, ice cover, and surface albedo since the 1980s. |
author |
Zhang, Rudong Wang, Hailong Fu, Qiang Rasch, Philip J. Wang, Xuanji |
author_facet |
Zhang, Rudong Wang, Hailong Fu, Qiang Rasch, Philip J. Wang, Xuanji |
author_sort |
Zhang, Rudong |
title |
Unraveling driving forces explaining significant reduction in satellite-inferred Arctic surface albedo since the 1980s |
title_short |
Unraveling driving forces explaining significant reduction in satellite-inferred Arctic surface albedo since the 1980s |
title_full |
Unraveling driving forces explaining significant reduction in satellite-inferred Arctic surface albedo since the 1980s |
title_fullStr |
Unraveling driving forces explaining significant reduction in satellite-inferred Arctic surface albedo since the 1980s |
title_full_unstemmed |
Unraveling driving forces explaining significant reduction in satellite-inferred Arctic surface albedo since the 1980s |
title_sort |
unraveling driving forces explaining significant reduction in satellite-inferred arctic surface albedo since the 1980s |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1577972 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1577972 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915258116 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
albedo Arctic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Sea ice |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1577972 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1577972 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915258116 doi:10.1073/pnas.1915258116 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915258116 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
116 |
container_issue |
48 |
container_start_page |
23947 |
op_container_end_page |
23953 |
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1772821002265296896 |