Abstract
Snow cover is a sensitive indicator of climate change, and the variations in snow cover can influence the global climate system and terrestrial water cycling. However, the teleconnections between snow cover changes of the northern hemisphere and the crop growth of Northeast China (NEC) are less documented. In this study, we estimated the correlations between spring snow cover area over Siberia (SSCA) and the regional climate, as well as the crop growth in NEC based on both satellite measurement and observational climate records from 1982 to 2015. The local temperature, including minimum temperature (Tmin) in May–June, maximum temperature (Tmax), and Tmin in July–August, showed significant negative correlations with SSCA. SSCA is found to be negatively correlated to rainfall during the beginning of the growing season, while positively correlated to rainfall during the peak growing season for the agricultural ecosystem of NEC. The remote responses of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to SSCA varied across different climate zones and different growing periods. The NDVI variations over cold and dry cultivated regions exhibit negative correlations with SSCA in May–June, which is opposite for the wetter areas. The negative correlation between NDVI over the agricultural ecosystem and SSCA during the peak growing season was also detected, implying the variations in SSCA might be an essential driving factor in affecting the crop growth through modifying the regional climate of NEC. In the future, more in situ observations and model simulations should be conducted to verify our results described here, which would have significant implications for maintaining regional food security and sustainable development in Northeast China under the changing climate background.
Highlights
Snow on land is a crucial component of the global cryosphere and extremely sensitive to changes in climate [1,2,3]
Taking account of the adjacent geographical locations between eastern Eurasia and Northeast China (NEC), in this paper we focused on the regional climate and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) responses to snow cover changes over eastern Eurasia
The responses of the peak growing season temperature and precipitation of NEC to SSCA are quite different from that during the beginning of the growing season. Both the Tmax and Tmin in July and August over NEC showed a negative correlation with SSCA, indicating the increase of snow cover extent over Siberia corresponds to lower daytime and nighttime temperature at the same time
Summary
Snow on land is a crucial component of the global cryosphere and extremely sensitive to changes in climate [1,2,3]. Numerous studies have documented a retreat of snow cover over the northern hemisphere (NH) due to global warming in the past several decades [4,5,6]. From 1922 to 2010, the NH spring snow cover extent has undergone significant reduction and that the rate of decrease has accelerated since the 1970s, which has reached to 0.8 million km per decade [7]. Changes in snow cover can, in turn, influence the climate systems through the widely documented snow/albedo feedback [8,9]. Snow cover can reflect more solar radiation from the land surface and can significantly influence the Earth’s radiation balance [10]. The retreat of snow cover extent can amplify climate warming through the positive snow/albedo feedback [11]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
