Snow Drought: Recognizing and Understanding its Impacts in Alaska
Snow Drought: Characterizing and Recognizing its Impacts in Alaska
Dates
Start Date
2016-10-01
End Date
2018-09-30
Release Date
2016
Summary
In Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, snow plays a crucial role in atmospheric and hydrologic systems and has a major influence on the health and function of regional ecosystems. Warming temperatures may have a significant impact on snow and may therefore affect the entire water cycle of the region. A decrease in precipitation in the form of snow, or “snow drought”, can manifest in several ways including changes to total snowfall amounts, snow accumulation, and the timing/length of the snow season. Understanding these changes is then critical for understanding and predicting a variety of climate impacts to wildlife and ecosystems. However, little research has been conducted to date to understand how this change may impact high-latitude [...]
Summary
In Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, snow plays a crucial role in atmospheric and hydrologic systems and has a major influence on the health and function of regional ecosystems. Warming temperatures may have a significant impact on snow and may therefore affect the entire water cycle of the region. A decrease in precipitation in the form of snow, or “snow drought”, can manifest in several ways including changes to total snowfall amounts, snow accumulation, and the timing/length of the snow season. Understanding these changes is then critical for understanding and predicting a variety of climate impacts to wildlife and ecosystems. However, little research has been conducted to date to understand how this change may impact high-latitude ecosystems, and, unfortunately, traditional methods used by scientists to measure and characterize drought do not apply to snowfall-dominated areas.
This project seeks to address this lack of information by determining the most effective definitions of “snow drought” in Alaska, exploring the features and events that indicate the occurrence of snow drought, understanding the gaps between how we measure snow at single locations via gauges (meteorological snow drought) vs. snowpack conditions (hydrological snow drought), and determining how land cover and terrain affect the susceptibility of an area to snow drought.
This project will use existing datasets (e.g. ground observations, remote sensing, and computer models) to understand the arrival and departure of snowpack and the speed that the snow is melting, and to observe how changing landscapes and ecosystems, including the occurrence of fire, might be impacting snow accumulation and melt.
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AK_Mountains_ShawnCarter_USGS.JPG “Snowy mountains and community in Alaska - Credit: Shawn Carter, USGS”
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Purpose
While the attention paid to Arctic and sub-Arctic temperature change has increased dramatically in recent years, precipitation and its impacts on high-latitude ecosystems have been given relatively little notice. In many cases the effects of precipitation variability and change are less visible, especially where precipitation arrives mainly as snow. However, snow remains a crucial component of atmospheric and hydrologic dynamics, and key driver of regional ecosystems.
Addressing “snow drought” as it manifests in changes to total snowfall amounts, snow accumulation, and the timing/length of the snow season are then critical for understanding and predicting a host of climate impacts. Unfortunately, snowfall-dominated areas defy traditional approaches to drought characterization. As such, this project seeks to address the following research questions:
What are the most effective definitions of meteorological and hydrological snow drought for Alaska?
What are the temporal features or indicators for snow drought?
How crucial is the gap between how well we measure snow at gauges (meteorological snow drought) and snowpack conditions (hydrological snow drought)?
What changes in snowpack and snow drought susceptibility are potentially due to changes in cover or terrain?
This project will also use existing datasets (ground observations, reanalyses, remote sensing datasets, and modeled) to address snow drought in Alaska. Specific tasks for the project include:
Analyzing various drought indices and their coherence, as well as their temporal and spatial variability to assess their suitability for Alaska conditions.
Assessing snowpack characteristics (e.g., timing of arrival and departure, speed of departure) on drought manifestation and severity, and if those characters are exacerbating snow drought occurrences or extent over time.
Exploring the linkages among station observations (precipitation falling from the sky) and snowpack development (snow on the ground) with drought.
Observing whether snow drought conditions are tied to ecosystem trajectories, vegetation indices, or fire occurrence, and how changing landscapes and ecosystems are impacting snow distributions.
Project Extension
projectStatus
In Progress
Budget Extension
annualBudgets
year
2016
totalFunds
49969.0
parts
type
Award Number
value
G16PG00118
totalFunds
49969.0
Preview Image
Snowy mountains and community in Alaska - Credit: Shawn Carter, USGS