Evaluation of snow cover properties in ERA5 and ERA5-Land with several satellite-based datasets in the Northern Hemisphere in spring 1982–2018

Abstract

Abstract. Seasonal snow cover of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) greatly influences surface energy balance; hydrological cycle; and many human activities, such as tourism and agriculture. Monitoring snow cover at a continental scale is only possible from satellites or using reanalysis data. This study aims to analyze the time series of snow water equivalent (SWE), snow cover extent (SCE), and surface albedo in spring in ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis data and to compare the time series with several satellite-based datasets. As reference data for the SWE intercomparison, we use bias-corrected SnowCCI v1 data for non-mountainous regions and the mean of Brown, MERRA-2, and Crocus v7 datasets for the mountainous regions. For surface albedo, we use the black-sky albedo datasets CLARA-A2 SAL, based on AVHRR data, and MCD43D51, based on MODIS data. Additionally, we use Rutgers and JAXA JASMES SCE products. Our study covers land areas north of 40∘ N and the period between 1982 and 2018 (spring season from March to May). The analysis shows that both ERA5 and ERA5-Land overestimate total NH SWE by 150 % to 200 % compared to the SWE reference data. ERA5-Land shows larger overestimation, which is mostly due to very high SWE values over mountainous regions. The analysis revealed a discontinuity in ERA5 around the year 2004 since adding the Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS) from the year 2004 onwards considerably improves SWE estimates but makes the trends less reliable. The negative NH SWE trends in ERA5 range from −249 to −236 Gt per decade in spring, which is 2 to 3 times larger than the trends detected by the other datasets (ranging from −124 to −77 Gt per decade). SCE is accurately described in ERA5-Land, whereas ERA5 shows notably larger SCE than the satellite-based datasets. Albedo estimates are more consistent between the datasets, with a slight overestimation in ERA5 and ERA5-Land. The negative trends in SCE and albedo are strongest in May, when the albedo trend varies from −0.011 to −0.006 per decade depending on the dataset. The negative SCE trend detected by ERA5 in May (-1.22×106 km2 per decade) is about twice as large as the trends detected by all other datasets (ranging from −0.66 to -0.50×106 km2 per decade). The analysis also shows that there is a large spatial variability in the trends, which is consistent with other studies.