Open AccessSensitivity of the French Alps snow cover to the variation of climatic variables
Author(s) -
Éric Martin,
E. Brun,
Yves Durand
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
annales geophysicae
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.522
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1432-0576
pISSN - 0992-7689
DOI - 10.1007/s00585-994-0469-6
Subject(s) - snow cover , snow , environmental science , climatology , scale (ratio) , variation (astronomy) , sensitivity (control systems) , atmospheric sciences , physical geography , meteorology , geology , geography , cartography , electronic engineering , astrophysics , engineering , physics
In order to study the sensitivity of snow\udcover to changes in meteorological variables at a regional scale, a numerical\udsnow model and an analysis system of the meteorological conditions adapted to\udrelief were used. This approach has been successfully tested by comparing\udsimulated and measured snow depth at 37 sites in the French Alps during a ten\udyear data period. Then, the sensitivity of the snow cover to a variation in\udclimatic conditions was tested by two different methods, which led to very\udsimilar results. To assess the impact of a particular "doubled CO2"\udscenario, coherent perturbations were introduced in the input data of the snow\udmodel. It was found that although the impact would be very pronounced, it would\udalso be extremely differentiated, dependent on the internal state of the snow\udcover. The most sensitive areas are the elevations below 2400 m, especially in\udthe southern part of the French Alps