Climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in western U.S. snowpack variability
Abstract We employ dynamical downscaling and pseudo global warming methodologies to evaluate climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in spring snowpack (S) variability across the western United States (U.S.). The negative correlation between S and temperature weakens line...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2016-05-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068798 |
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| author | Jason Scalzitti Courtenay Strong Adam Kochanski |
| author_facet | Jason Scalzitti Courtenay Strong Adam Kochanski |
| author_sort | Jason Scalzitti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We employ dynamical downscaling and pseudo global warming methodologies to evaluate climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in spring snowpack (S) variability across the western United States (U.S.). The negative correlation between S and temperature weakens linearly with elevation, whereas the correlation between S and precipitation increases asymptotically with elevation. The curvilinear relationship in the latter case was not visible in prior studies because of the observation networks' limited range. In our historical validation, there is a range of threshold elevations (1580–2181 m) across six mountainous regions, above which precipitation is the main driver of snowpack variability and below which temperature is the main driver. Under a moderate end‐of‐century climate change scenario, these thresholds increase by 191 to 432 m. These rising thresholds indicate increasing spatial and elevational vulnerability of western U.S. spring snowpack along with associated impacts to hydrologic and ecologic systems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5242200d075d45fb80b5f5d3e1e2da3d |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016-05-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-5242200d075d45fb80b5f5d3e1e2da3d2025-08-20T01:51:46ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072016-05-0143105361536910.1002/2016GL068798Climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in western U.S. snowpack variabilityJason Scalzitti0Courtenay Strong1Adam Kochanski2Department of Atmospheric Sciences University of Utah Salt Lake City Utah USADepartment of Atmospheric Sciences University of Utah Salt Lake City Utah USADepartment of Atmospheric Sciences University of Utah Salt Lake City Utah USAAbstract We employ dynamical downscaling and pseudo global warming methodologies to evaluate climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in spring snowpack (S) variability across the western United States (U.S.). The negative correlation between S and temperature weakens linearly with elevation, whereas the correlation between S and precipitation increases asymptotically with elevation. The curvilinear relationship in the latter case was not visible in prior studies because of the observation networks' limited range. In our historical validation, there is a range of threshold elevations (1580–2181 m) across six mountainous regions, above which precipitation is the main driver of snowpack variability and below which temperature is the main driver. Under a moderate end‐of‐century climate change scenario, these thresholds increase by 191 to 432 m. These rising thresholds indicate increasing spatial and elevational vulnerability of western U.S. spring snowpack along with associated impacts to hydrologic and ecologic systems.https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068798snowpack variabilityclimate change‐driven snowpackwestern United Statesdynamical downscalingWRFpseudo global warming |
| spellingShingle | Jason Scalzitti Courtenay Strong Adam Kochanski Climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in western U.S. snowpack variability Geophysical Research Letters snowpack variability climate change‐driven snowpack western United States dynamical downscaling WRF pseudo global warming |
| title | Climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in western U.S. snowpack variability |
| title_full | Climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in western U.S. snowpack variability |
| title_fullStr | Climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in western U.S. snowpack variability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in western U.S. snowpack variability |
| title_short | Climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in western U.S. snowpack variability |
| title_sort | climate change impact on the roles of temperature and precipitation in western u s snowpack variability |
| topic | snowpack variability climate change‐driven snowpack western United States dynamical downscaling WRF pseudo global warming |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068798 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jasonscalzitti climatechangeimpactontherolesoftemperatureandprecipitationinwesternussnowpackvariability AT courtenaystrong climatechangeimpactontherolesoftemperatureandprecipitationinwesternussnowpackvariability AT adamkochanski climatechangeimpactontherolesoftemperatureandprecipitationinwesternussnowpackvariability |