Influence of Atmospheric Rivers on Alaskan River Ice
Abstract Atmospheric rivers (ARs) transport vast amounts of moisture from low to high latitude regions. One region particularly impacted by ARs is Interior Alaska (AK). We analyze the impact of ARs on the annual river ice breakup date for 26 locations in AK. We investigate the AR‐driven rise in loca...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL111544 |
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| author | Russ Limber Elias C. Massoud Bin Guan Forrest M. Hoffman Jitendra Kumar |
| author_facet | Russ Limber Elias C. Massoud Bin Guan Forrest M. Hoffman Jitendra Kumar |
| author_sort | Russ Limber |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Atmospheric rivers (ARs) transport vast amounts of moisture from low to high latitude regions. One region particularly impacted by ARs is Interior Alaska (AK). We analyze the impact of ARs on the annual river ice breakup date for 26 locations in AK. We investigate the AR‐driven rise in local air temperatures and explore the relationship between ARs and precipitation, including extremes and interannual variability. We found that AR events lead to an increase in local air temperatures for over 1 week (by ≈1°C). ARs account for 40% of total precipitation, explain 47% of precipitation variability, and make up 59% of extreme precipitation events, each year. By estimating the heat transfer between winter precipitation and the river ice surface, we conclude that increased precipitation during the coldest period of the year delays river ice breakup dates, while precipitation occurring close to the breakup date has little impact on breakup timing. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8bb12819ea9a4fdba09865a1e2467599 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-8bb12819ea9a4fdba09865a1e24675992025-08-20T03:25:55ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072024-12-015123n/an/a10.1029/2024GL111544Influence of Atmospheric Rivers on Alaskan River IceRuss Limber0Elias C. Massoud1Bin Guan2Forrest M. Hoffman3Jitendra Kumar4The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Knoxville TN USAOak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge TN USAJoint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering University of California Los Angeles CA USAOak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge TN USAOak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge TN USAAbstract Atmospheric rivers (ARs) transport vast amounts of moisture from low to high latitude regions. One region particularly impacted by ARs is Interior Alaska (AK). We analyze the impact of ARs on the annual river ice breakup date for 26 locations in AK. We investigate the AR‐driven rise in local air temperatures and explore the relationship between ARs and precipitation, including extremes and interannual variability. We found that AR events lead to an increase in local air temperatures for over 1 week (by ≈1°C). ARs account for 40% of total precipitation, explain 47% of precipitation variability, and make up 59% of extreme precipitation events, each year. By estimating the heat transfer between winter precipitation and the river ice surface, we conclude that increased precipitation during the coldest period of the year delays river ice breakup dates, while precipitation occurring close to the breakup date has little impact on breakup timing.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL111544river iceAlaskaatmospheric riversprecipitationdaily temperatureriver ice breakup |
| spellingShingle | Russ Limber Elias C. Massoud Bin Guan Forrest M. Hoffman Jitendra Kumar Influence of Atmospheric Rivers on Alaskan River Ice Geophysical Research Letters river ice Alaska atmospheric rivers precipitation daily temperature river ice breakup |
| title | Influence of Atmospheric Rivers on Alaskan River Ice |
| title_full | Influence of Atmospheric Rivers on Alaskan River Ice |
| title_fullStr | Influence of Atmospheric Rivers on Alaskan River Ice |
| title_full_unstemmed | Influence of Atmospheric Rivers on Alaskan River Ice |
| title_short | Influence of Atmospheric Rivers on Alaskan River Ice |
| title_sort | influence of atmospheric rivers on alaskan river ice |
| topic | river ice Alaska atmospheric rivers precipitation daily temperature river ice breakup |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL111544 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT russlimber influenceofatmosphericriversonalaskanriverice AT eliascmassoud influenceofatmosphericriversonalaskanriverice AT binguan influenceofatmosphericriversonalaskanriverice AT forrestmhoffman influenceofatmosphericriversonalaskanriverice AT jitendrakumar influenceofatmosphericriversonalaskanriverice |