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Contribution of Snow Cover Decline to Projected Warming Over North America
Author(s) -
Diro G. T.,
Sushama L.
Publication year - 2020
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 - 10.1029/2019gl084414
Subject(s) - snow , snow cover , environmental science , climatology , global warming , climate change , current (fluid) , physical geography , snow line , geography , geology , meteorology , oceanography
Given the critical role that snow plays in modulating current climate, it is vital to examine the contribution of the projected snow decline to the future warming. This is investigated over North America using regional climate modeling experiments with prescribed current and future snow conditions. Results indicate that the decline in snow contributes to future warming by up to 2°C and 4°C, respectively, to annual and spring temperature increases. Results also show that decline in snow depth and cover lead to the attenuation (amplification) of cold (warm) extremes. The rate of intensification of warm extremes is higher over the snow‐abundant regions of northern Canada—where current snow cover fraction is close to one. The largest attenuation in cold extremes, on the other hand, is over snow marginal regions of the Great Plains and Prairies. These results demonstrate the spatiotemporal differences in projected changes exclusively associated with snow cover and depth decline.