Spring snow albedo feedback over northern Eurasia: Comparing in situ measurements with reanalysis products

This study uses daily observations and modern reanalyses in order to evaluate reanalysis products over northern Eurasia regarding the spring snow albedo feedback (SAF) during the period from 2000 to 2013. We used the state-of-the-art reanalyses from ERA-Interim/Land and the Modern-Era Retrospective...

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Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: M. Wegmann, E. Dutra, H.-W. Jacobi, O. Zolina
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2018
Subjects:
geo
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1887-2018
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1887/2018/tc-12-1887-2018.pdf
https://doaj.org/article/17cd259976da4261b90c1c0a03b1ab96
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spelling fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:17cd259976da4261b90c1c0a03b1ab96 2023-05-15T18:32:18+02:00 Spring snow albedo feedback over northern Eurasia: Comparing in situ measurements with reanalysis products M. Wegmann E. Dutra H.-W. Jacobi O. Zolina 2018-06-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1887-2018 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1887/2018/tc-12-1887-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/article/17cd259976da4261b90c1c0a03b1ab96 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-12-1887-2018 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1887/2018/tc-12-1887-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/article/17cd259976da4261b90c1c0a03b1ab96 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 12, Pp 1887-1898 (2018) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2018 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1887-2018 2023-01-22T19:27:31Z This study uses daily observations and modern reanalyses in order to evaluate reanalysis products over northern Eurasia regarding the spring snow albedo feedback (SAF) during the period from 2000 to 2013. We used the state-of-the-art reanalyses from ERA-Interim/Land and the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2) as well as an experimental set-up of ERA-Interim/Land with prescribed short grass as land cover to enhance the comparability with the station data while underlining the caveats of comparing in situ observations with gridded data. Snow depth statistics derived from daily station data are well reproduced in all three reanalyses. However day-to-day albedo variability is notably higher at the stations than for any reanalysis product. The ERA-Interim grass set-up shows improved performance when representing albedo variability and generates comparable estimates for the snow albedo in spring. We find that modern reanalyses show a physically consistent representation of SAF, with realistic spatial patterns and area-averaged sensitivity estimates. However, station-based SAF values are significantly higher than in the reanalyses, which is mostly driven by the stronger contrast between snow and snow-free albedo. Switching to grass-only vegetation in ERA-Interim/Land increases the SAF values up to the level of station-based estimates. We found no significant trend in the examined 14-year time series of SAF, but interannual changes of about 0.5 % K−1 in both station-based and reanalysis estimates were derived. This interannual variability is primarily dominated by the variability in the snowmelt sensitivity, which is correctly captured in reanalysis products. Although modern reanalyses perform well for snow variables, efforts should be made to improve the representation of dynamic albedo changes. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Unknown Merra ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) The Cryosphere 12 6 1887 1898
institution Open Polar
collection Unknown
op_collection_id fttriple
language English
topic geo
envir
spellingShingle geo
envir
M. Wegmann
E. Dutra
H.-W. Jacobi
O. Zolina
Spring snow albedo feedback over northern Eurasia: Comparing in situ measurements with reanalysis products
topic_facet geo
envir
description This study uses daily observations and modern reanalyses in order to evaluate reanalysis products over northern Eurasia regarding the spring snow albedo feedback (SAF) during the period from 2000 to 2013. We used the state-of-the-art reanalyses from ERA-Interim/Land and the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2) as well as an experimental set-up of ERA-Interim/Land with prescribed short grass as land cover to enhance the comparability with the station data while underlining the caveats of comparing in situ observations with gridded data. Snow depth statistics derived from daily station data are well reproduced in all three reanalyses. However day-to-day albedo variability is notably higher at the stations than for any reanalysis product. The ERA-Interim grass set-up shows improved performance when representing albedo variability and generates comparable estimates for the snow albedo in spring. We find that modern reanalyses show a physically consistent representation of SAF, with realistic spatial patterns and area-averaged sensitivity estimates. However, station-based SAF values are significantly higher than in the reanalyses, which is mostly driven by the stronger contrast between snow and snow-free albedo. Switching to grass-only vegetation in ERA-Interim/Land increases the SAF values up to the level of station-based estimates. We found no significant trend in the examined 14-year time series of SAF, but interannual changes of about 0.5 % K−1 in both station-based and reanalysis estimates were derived. This interannual variability is primarily dominated by the variability in the snowmelt sensitivity, which is correctly captured in reanalysis products. Although modern reanalyses perform well for snow variables, efforts should be made to improve the representation of dynamic albedo changes.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author M. Wegmann
E. Dutra
H.-W. Jacobi
O. Zolina
author_facet M. Wegmann
E. Dutra
H.-W. Jacobi
O. Zolina
author_sort M. Wegmann
title Spring snow albedo feedback over northern Eurasia: Comparing in situ measurements with reanalysis products
title_short Spring snow albedo feedback over northern Eurasia: Comparing in situ measurements with reanalysis products
title_full Spring snow albedo feedback over northern Eurasia: Comparing in situ measurements with reanalysis products
title_fullStr Spring snow albedo feedback over northern Eurasia: Comparing in situ measurements with reanalysis products
title_full_unstemmed Spring snow albedo feedback over northern Eurasia: Comparing in situ measurements with reanalysis products
title_sort spring snow albedo feedback over northern eurasia: comparing in situ measurements with reanalysis products
publisher Copernicus Publications
publishDate 2018
url https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1887-2018
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1887/2018/tc-12-1887-2018.pdf
https://doaj.org/article/17cd259976da4261b90c1c0a03b1ab96
long_lat ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816)
geographic Merra
geographic_facet Merra
genre The Cryosphere
genre_facet The Cryosphere
op_source The Cryosphere, Vol 12, Pp 1887-1898 (2018)
op_relation doi:10.5194/tc-12-1887-2018
1994-0416
1994-0424
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/1887/2018/tc-12-1887-2018.pdf
https://doaj.org/article/17cd259976da4261b90c1c0a03b1ab96
op_rights undefined
op_doi https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1887-2018
container_title The Cryosphere
container_volume 12
container_issue 6
container_start_page 1887
op_container_end_page 1898
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