Abstract
Abstract Snow cover is highly sensitive to global climate change and strongly influences the climate at global and regional scales. Because of limited in situ observations, snow cover dynamics in the Nyang River basin (NRB) have been examined in few studies. Five snow cover indices derived from observation and remote sensing data from 2000 to 2018 were used to investigate the spatial and temporal variation of snow cover in the NRB. There was clear seasonality in the snow cover throughout the entire basin. The maximum snow-covered area was 8,751.35 km2, about 50% of the total basin area, and occurred in March. The maximum snow depth (SD) was 5.35 cm and was found at the northern edge of the middle reaches of the basin. Snow cover frequency, SD, and fraction of snow cover area increased with elevation. The decrease in SD was the most marked in the elevation range of 5,000–6,000 m. Above 6,000 m, the snow water equivalent showed a slight upward trend. There was a significant negative correlation between snow cover and temperature. The results of this study could improve our understanding of changes in snow cover in the NRB from multivariate perspectives. It is better for water resources management.
Highlights
Snow cover refers to the layer that is formed when snow falls and covers the ground or ice surface
Snow cover days (SCD, d), the snow start date (SOD), and the snow end date (SED) were three indices used for monitoring seasonal snow cover (Dong 2018); SOD and SED denote the Julian dates of the first and last snowfalls of the snow season; SCD is the number of days between the SOD and SED
Previous studies found that there had been no significant trend in snow-covered area (SCA) in western China since 1957, climate change in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere has led to the decrease of SCD on the Tibetan Plateau since the 1970s (Déry & Brown 2007; McCabe & Wolock 2009; Shen et al 2014)
Summary
Snow cover refers to the layer that is formed when snow falls and covers the ground or ice surface. Its characteristics (e.g., snow cover area, snow depth (SD), amount of snowfall, and snow water equivalent (SWE)) play an important role in the global energy and hydrological cycles, especially in alpine regions It is essential to conduct hydrological studies to understand the snow-covered area (SCA) extent and melting patterns in mountain regions (Gupta et al 2007; Minora et al 2015), and it is important to investigate the changes in snow regimes because SCA variability impacts the timing and magnitude of snowmelt runoff (Srivastava et al 2014)
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