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Observed changes in false springs over the contiguous United States
Author(s) -
Peterson Alexander G.,
Abatzoglou John T.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl059266
Subject(s) - spring (device) , climate change , environmental science , climatology , vegetation (pathology) , physical geography , geography , geology , oceanography , mechanical engineering , medicine , pathology , engineering
Climate warming fosters an earlier spring green‐up that may bring potential benefits to agricultural systems. However, advances in green‐up timing may leave early stage vegetation growth vulnerable to cold damage when hard freezes follow green‐up resulting in a false spring. Spatiotemporal patterns of green‐up dates, last spring freezes, and false springs were examined across the contiguous United States from 1920 to 2013. Results indicate widespread earlier green‐up and last spring freeze dates over the period. Observed changes in these dates were asymmetric with the last spring freeze date advancing to earlier in the year relative to green‐up date. Although regionally variable, these changes resulted in a reduction in false springs, notably over the past 20 years, except across the intermountain western United States where the advance in green‐up timing outpaced that of the last spring freeze. A sensitivity experiment shows that observed decreases in false springs are consistent with a warming climate.