Accelerated decline of snow cover in China from 1979 to 2018 observed from space

Abstract

Snow cover is an important indicator of climate change. Variations of snow integrate the competing effect of increasing temperature and precipitation. In this study, based on Theil-Sen Median (TSM) and Mann-Kendall (M-K) methods, observational evidence from space was used to investigate the variation of snow parameters in China from 1979 to 2018, and some meaningful conclusions were found. (1) The downward trend of snow depth (SD) with a median of −0.02 cm/year was generally found in the high altitude mountains, and the upward trend of SD with a median of 0.01 cm/year occurs in the plains. A widespread and accelerated decrease of SD was observed in the latest period (2009–2018) in NC and NX. (2) The mean annual areas with snow cover days (SCDs) greater than 150 days (d) accounted for 17.8%, 24.73% and 38.14% in NC, NX and QTP. SCDs in NC and Northern QTP were widely reduced, but the longest snow season with more than eight months is still maintained on QTP. (3) The downward trend of snow storage (SS) was found in all three snow areas. The difference of snow phenology is reflected in the slowest accumulation and melting rate of SS on QTP; the largest peak value of SS and the shortest snow season in NC; the slow accumulation and rapid melting of snow in the NX, and the peak value is achieved at the latest. The trend of maximum temperature was judged as the most important factor affecting the change of SD, while longitude and latitude are closely related to the change of SCD.