Overall negative trends for snow cover extent and duration in global mountain regions over 1982–2020

Abstract

Notwithstanding the large availability of data and models, a consistent picture of the snow cover extent and duration changes in global mountain areas is lacking for long-term trends. Here, model data and satellite images are combined by using Artificial Neural Networks to generate a consistent time series from 1982 to 2020 over global mountain areas. The analysis of the harmonized time series over 38 years indicates an overall negative trend of − 3.6% ± 2.7% for yearly snow cover extent and of − 15.1 days ± 11.6 days for snow cover duration. The most affected season by negative trends is winter with an average reduction in snow cover extent of − 11.5% ± 6.9%, and the most affected season by positive changes is spring with an average increase of 10% ± 5.9%, the latter mainly located in High Mountain Asia. The results indicated a shift in the snow regime located between the 80 s and 90 s of the previous century, where the period from 1982 to 1999 is characterized by a higher number of areas with significant changes and a higher rate of changes with respect to the period 2000–2020. This quantification can lead to a more accurate evaluation of the impact on water resources for mountainous communities.