Sep 7, 2012
Relationships between Recent Pan-Arctic Snow Cover and Hydroclimate Trends
by
,
Journal of Climate
- Finds that late spring/early summer snow cover extent decreased over the Arctic over the period of 1972–2006 based on the NOAA weekly snow cover map
- Finds that the highest SCE values for May and June all occurred in the first half of the record
- Finds that surface net radiation (SNR) is the primary source of energy for the snow cover changes while sensible heat flux makes a secondary contribution
- Finds that these surface energy changes in turn are driven by changes in albedo, increased air temperature and increased water vapor pressure