Multi-Satellite and Sensor Derived Trends and Variation of Snow Water Equivalent on the High-Latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere

Abstract

Utilizing more than 30 years of satellite-microwave sensor derived snow water equivalent data on the high-latitudes of the northern hemisphere we investigate regional trends and variations relative to elevation. On the low-elevation tundra regions encircling the Arctic we find high statistically significant trends of snow water equivalent. Across the high Arctic Siberia and Far East Russia through North America and northern Greenland we find increasing trends of snow water equivalent with local region variations in strength. Yet across the high Arctic of western Russia through Norway we find decreasing trends of snow water equivalent of varying strength. Power density spectra identify significant power at quasi-biennial and associated lunar nodal cycles. These cycles of the upper atmosphere circulation, ENSO and ocean circulation perturbations from tides forms the causative linkage between increasing snow water equivalent on low-elevation tundra landscapes and decreasing coastal sea ice cover as part of the Arctic system energy and mass cycles

Remote Sensing, Model-Derived and Ground Measurements of Snow Water Equivalent and Snow Density in Alaska

“…Inter-satellite and sensor comparisons of SW als from the Scanning Multichannel Microwa ometer, the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager and AMSR-E shows AMSR-E underperforman the Arctic [36]. The elevation range in this co was from mean-shoreline to 100 m, essentially ing low-elevation tundra with minimal vegetati snow density assumption of the AMSR-E algo E retrieve Radi-SSM/I) across a development model we envision a coordinat grated satellite-ground based system for direct ment of snow density at site-specific, regional a scales for climate and environment science inve and geophysical modeling.…”

Remote Sensing of Landscape Change in Permafrost Regions

“…The Cryoland Portal (<URL>http://www.cryoland.eu/) is a good example of how snow and ice products are readily accessible. Over northern permafrost regions, Muskett () analysed 30 years of satellite microwave data to identify regional increases and decreases in SWE. Lindsay et al .…”

“…The Cryoland Portal (<URL>http://www.cryoland.eu/) is a good example of how snow and ice products are readily accessible. Over northern permafrost regions, Muskett (2012) analysed 30 years of satellite microwave data to identify regional increases and decreases in SWE. Lindsay et al (2015) studied the timing and duration of snow cover over Alaska, northwest Canada and the Russian Far East using MODIS, finding that snow cover duration ranged widely from 179 to 311 days/yr across these regions.…”

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency GCOM-W1 satellite snow depth product: outcome of the first winter

“…Analysis of the snow cover extent from satellite products has been done in many papers. 1,[6][7][8][9] Such an analysis for the area of Poland, which has a typical Central European climate, is also available. [10][11][12] More interesting for snow monitoring is the use of microwave instruments due to their insensitivity to cloudiness, which can significantly limit VIS/IR observations of snow.…”