Snow depth variability across the Qinghai Plateau and its influencing factors during 1980–2018

Abstract

AbstractAs a crucial component of the climate system, snow cover plays an important role on surface energy budgets, hydrological cycles and socioeconomic development. This paper investigated the spatiotemporal patterns of snow depth across the Qinghai Plateau (QP) during 1980–2018 based on passive microwave (PMW) satellite observation and reanalysis products. The study identified the relationships between the changes in PMW snow depth and topographic features and revealed the impact of climatic variables (air temperature, precipitation and wind speed) and large‐scale atmospheric circulations on observed snow depth variability. The results show that the spatial pattern of snow depth climatology is similar in all datasets, except in terms of magnitude, with high values in the southern and southeastern parts of the QP and low values in the eastern and northwestern parts. Average snow depth correlates positively with precipitation, elevation and slope, and negatively with air temperature and wind speed. The long‐term trends in snow depth vary with the season and the datasets. The PMW snow depth across the QP shows a significant annual (−0.125 cm·decades−1, p < .10) and spring (−0.184 cm·decades−1, p < .05) negative trend, while snow depth for ERA5 and MERRA2 does not present significant trends. Air temperature dominates total snow depth variation over the QP, explaining 43.85, 24.88 and 47.28% of annual, winter and spring PMW snow depth variations, which significantly affects snow depth variations in most parts of the QP, yet the effects of precipitation and wind speed on snow depth variation exhibit significant regional differences, and atmospheric circulations (e.g., AMO) also have a remarkable controlling effect on some localized areas.