ENSO and Light-Absorbing Impurities and Their Impact on Snow Albedo in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

Tomás R Bolaño-Ortiz,Yiniva Camargo-Caicedo,Viverlys L Diaz-Gutiérrez

doi:10.3390/geosciences10110437

Abstract

Snow albedo is an important variable in the coupled atmosphere-earth system at the global level. Moreover, studying its behavior allows us to know the state of the cryosphere. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM) is a glacier area and the northernmost tropical (10.82° N, 73.75° W) region in South America. It has a height of up to 5775 m.a.sl., which is the second highest mountain in the world near the marine coast. We analyzed variations in snow albedo related to snow cover, snowfall, temperature, light-absorbing impurities such as blank carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC) and dust, and El Niño—Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon through 20 years (2000–2020). We mainly use daily data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra and Aqua NASA satellites. Results showed through correlations that snow albedo has decreased due to Land Surface Temperature (55%, p < 0.001), a positive phase of ENSO (42%, p < 0.001) and dust (37%, p < 0.01) in the SNSM. Additionally, a dust negative effect was more evident on the southern side (up to 49%, p < 0.001) of the SNSM. Backward trajectories by the NOAA HYSPLIT model suggest that dust sources would be soil erosion in the surrounding region. Results can help recognize the influence of ENSO and dust in the glacier decrease of the SNSM.

Highlights

The cryosphere is the frozen part of the hydrosphere and the lithosphere due to its physical interactions with the atmosphere
The prime objective of this study is to investigate the association of snow cover, snowfall (SP), Land Surface Temperature (LST), and Light-absorbing impurities (LAI) particles such as black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and dust on snow albedo over the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM) based on satellite remote sensing and reanalysis data for the 2000–2020 period
Our research analyzed the relationship of snow cover, snowfall, temperature, and light-absorbing impurities such as black carbon, organic carbon, and dust on snow albedo in the SNSM during the last two decades (2000–2020)

Summary

Introduction

The cryosphere is the frozen part of the hydrosphere and the lithosphere due to its physical interactions with the atmosphere. Any qualitative and quantitative change in the physical properties and extent of the cryosphere can affect global air circulation, air and ocean temperatures, river flow in mountains, ocean current patterns, and sea level [5,6,7,8,9,10]. This indicates that studying the cryosphere is important to better understand these ecosystems and as an indicator of climate change at a global and local level [11,12]. Snow albedo variations are mainly favored by surface temperature, snowfall, snow age, and snow impurities [14,16,17,18,19]

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