Variability and Changes of Unfrozen Soils Below Snowpack
Name
Geophysical Research Letters - 2022 - Gao - Variability and Changes of Unfrozen Soils Below Snowpack.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
3.87 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
27dd081678cf94e1d7cb780b138d1255
Author(s)
Gao, Lun
Ebtehaj, Ardeshir
Cohen, Judah
Wigneron, Jean‐Pierre
Date Issued
February 7, 2022
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Citation
Gao, L., Ebtehaj, A., Cohen, J., & Wigneron, J.-P. (2022). Variability and changes of unfrozen soils below snowpack. Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2021GL095354.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Using four reanalysis data sets and ground‐based observations, this paper uncovers that on average, 30% of the time, Northern Hemisphere snow cover experiences unfrozen bottom soil. It is demonstrated that the probability of occurrence of unfrozen soils is correlated with the snow types and is maximum over the ephemeral followed by the maritime and prairie snow. The results based on reanalysis data unveil that the seasonal evolution of the unfrozen soil areas is not synchronous with the snow cover extent and exhibits sub‐annual bi‐modality with two annual maxima in April and October. Interannual trend analyses indicate that shrinkage of spring snow in the past few decades has been accompanied by an increase in the proportion of unfrozen bottom soils, more significantly over polar climate regimes dominated by the tundra and taiga snow. The findings imply that the snowpack basal melting could have increased due to global warming.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl095354
