Changing Arctic snow cover: A review of recent developments and assessment of future needs for observations, modelling, and impacts.

Stef Bokhorst,Kari Luojus,Hannele Savela,Achim Heilig,Niila Inga,Atsushi Sato,Giovanni Macelloni,Dagrun Vikhamar-Schuler,Jarle W Bjerke,Terry V Callaghan,Margareta Johansson,Stine Højlund Pedersen,Silvia Terzago,Martin Schneebeli,Scott Williamson,Yubao Qiu,Ludovic Brucker,Donald Mclennan,Susanne Ingvander,Gunhild Rosqvist ,Sergey Sokratov ,Ingibjörg S Jónsdóttir ,Dorothée Ehrich ,Alexander Sokolov ,Richard Essery ,Heather Mariash ,Catharina Johansson ,Ross Brown ,О А Анисимов

doi:10.1007/s13280-016-0770-0

Abstract

Snow is a critically important and rapidly changing feature of the Arctic. However, snow-cover and snowpack conditions change through time pose challenges for measuring and prediction of snow. Plausible scenarios of how Arctic snow cover will respond to changing Arctic climate are important for impact assessments and adaptation strategies. Although much progress has been made in understanding and predicting snow-cover changes and their multiple consequences, many uncertainties remain. In this paper, we review advances in snow monitoring and modelling, and the impact of snow changes on ecosystems and society in Arctic regions. Interdisciplinary activities are required to resolve the current limitations on measuring and modelling snow characteristics through the cold season and at different spatial scales to assure human well-being, economic stability, and improve the ability to predict manage and adapt to natural hazards in the Arctic region.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-016-0770-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Snow is a critically important element of the Arctic and is rapidly changing due to climate warming (Callaghan et al 2011)
Stratigraphy, and physical characteristics are naturally changing throughout the Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users
This paper builds on the results presented at the workshop and presents an overview of recent developments in studies of changing Arctic snow cover and its consequences

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Snow is a critically important element of the Arctic and is rapidly changing due to climate warming (Callaghan et al 2011). Climate warming increases the potential for unseasonal thaws, early snowmelt, and rain-on-snow events (ROS) (Liston and Hiemstra 2011) These changes impact snow properties and runoff (Semmens et al 2013), which in turn affect Arctic ecosystems and societies (Meltofte 2013; Cooper 2014; Hansen et al 2014). Pedersen et al (2015) quantified the spatially distributed snow property (SWE, snow depth, snow thermal resistance, and timing of snow-free date) changes associated with episodic snowmelt events through in situ snow observations, meteorological data, and snow modelling. Observed (Hansen et al 2014) and predicted (Bjerke et al 2014) abrupt changes in snow properties and snow conditions associated with extreme events add complexity to the impacts of current warming in the Arctic (Walsh 2014). Algae and bacteria living in snow and ice are considered contaminants, and the spectral properties of snow are affected by the species composition (Lutz et al 2014)

Observations

Modelling

Impacts studies

Findings

Linking and communicating