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Observed albedo decrease related to the spring snow retreat
Author(s) -
Kuang Zhiming,
Yung Yuk L.
Publication year - 2000
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 - 10.1029/1999gl011116
Subject(s) - snow , albedo (alchemy) , shortwave , reflectivity , environmental science , total ozone mapping spectrometer , atmospheric sciences , shortwave radiation , spring (device) , northern hemisphere , snow cover , radiative forcing , snow line , climatology , geology , climate change , meteorology , radiative transfer , geography , ozone layer , oceanography , physics , radiation , art , stratosphere , optics , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics , art history , performance art
We study the impact of the spring snow retreat on albedo from 1979 to 1991 using the ultraviolet (UV) reflectivity measured by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS). Over the Northern Hemisphere (NH) snowy land area that was snow covered at least once during this period, we find a 1.5% decrease over the 13 years in the springtime UV reflectivity, related to a 5 × 10 6 km² decrease in the satellite derived spring snow cover. About half of the reflectance decrease occurred over regions where snow cover and reflectance correlate at a 99% significance level. The 1.5% UV reflectivity decrease corresponds to a 1% decrease in the visible albedo over the snowy region, and a ∼2 Wm −2 increase in the shortwave heating when averaged over the entire NH land. Based on observed interannual reflectivity changes over the entire NH snowy land area, our study provides a direct constraint on the shortwave forcing of the spring NH snow retreat.