Snow pack in the Swiss Alps under changing climatic conditions: an empirical approach for climate impacts studies

Summary ?In many instances, snow cover and duration are a major controlling factor on a range of environmental systems in mountain regions. When assessing the impacts of climatic change on mountain ecosystems and river basins whose origin lie in the Alps, one of the key controls on such systems will reside in changes in snow amount and duration. At present, regional climate models or statistical downscaling techniques, which are the principal methods applied to the derivation of climatic variables in a future, changing climate, do not provide adequate information at the scales required for investigations in which snow is playing a major role. A study has thus been undertaken on the behavior of snow in the Swiss Alps, in particular the duration of the seasonal snow-pack, on the basis of observational data from a number of Swiss climatological stations. It is seen that there is a distinct link between snow-cover duration and height (i.e., temperature), and that this link has a specific “signature” according to the type of winter. Milder winters are associated with higher precipitation levels than colder winters, but with more solid precipitation at elevations exceeding 1,700–2,000 m above sea-level, and more liquid precipitation below. These results can be combined within a single diagram, linking winter minimum temperature, winter precipitation, and snow-cover duration. The resulting contour surfaces can then be used to assess the manner in which the length of the snow-season may change according to specified shifts in temperature and precipitation. While the technique is clearly empirical, it can be combined with regional climate model information to provide a useful estimate of the length of the snow season with snow cover, for various climate-impacts studies. Received May 14, 2002; revised August 12, 2002; accepted August 17, 2002     

Impact Of Snow Drift On The Antarctic Ice Sheet Surface Mass Balance: Possible Sensitivity To Snow-Surface Properties

A mesoscale atmospheric numerical model is coupled with a physically based snow-pack model and with a snow-drift model. The snow model is verified for the French Alps by comparing its simulations to observations performed at the Col de Porte in the Chartreuse Massif. The snow erosion threshold depends on snow-pack properties such as density, dendricity, sphericity and particle size. The atmospheric turbulence scheme is modified in order to take into account stabilization effects due to airborne blown snow particles. In particular, vertically integrated stability functions for the stable boundary layer are completed by including the threshold friction velocity for snow erosion. The snow-drift model is calibrated by simulating the conditions observed during the Byrd snow project, held in West Antarctica in 1962. Finally, sensitivity experiments to the snow-surface properties show the importance of their accurate representation when modelling the contribution of deflation to the Antarctic surface mass balance.     

GLACIAL VARVE THICKNESS AND 127 YEARS OF INSTRUMENTAL CLIMATE DATA: A COMPARISON

Annually laminated sediments (glacial varves) from Lake Silvaplauna, a High Alpine proglacial lake in the Central Swiss Alps, were compared with glacier monitoring data and instrumental climate data from 1864 to 1990. Long-term and short-term responses to climatic change as well as anthropogenic influence can be traced separately in the varve succession. Economic development in the lake catchment has resulted in higher autochthonous production in recent years. Autochthonous components contribute around 10% to the total amount of sediment accumulated annually since 1960 but their contribution is negligible before this date. Decadal-scale varve thickness trends correlate with glacier size-variations. A stepwise, running multiple regression analysis demonstrates that interannual changes in varve thickness are strongly correlated with changes in mean summer temperatures, but cannot be sufficiently explained without considering summer precipitation and the number of days with snow per year. The wide range of observed correlation coefficients reveals the sensitivity of the archive to temporal variability of the climatic forcing factors and makes the development of transfer functions ambiguous.     

Shifts in the distributions of pressure, temperature and moisture and changes in the typical weather patterns in the Alpine region in response to the behavior of the North Atlantic Oscillation

Summary An investigation has been undertaken to assess the manner in which the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) influences average, climatic conditions, and also extremes of dynamic and thermodynamic variables. By choosing representative sites in the Swiss Alps, the present study shows that there is a high sensitivity of the extremes of the probability density functions of temperature, moisture and pressure to periods when the NAO index is either strongly positive or strongly negative. When the NAO index is strongly positive, temperature and pressure shift towards positive anomalies and there is a general reduction in atmospheric moisture at high elevation. Furthermore, a change in typical alpine winter weather patterns can be detected during strongly positive NAO anomaly phases. The winters of the last decade of the 20th Century (1989–99) are characterized by a substantial decrease in cold advective high pressure situations and simultaneously an important increase in warm convective high pressure systems. These patterns differ significantly from the weather types which have been recorded for earlier periods of the 20th Century. As a result of the highly-positive nature of the NAO index in the latter part of the 20th Century it is speculated here that a significant part of the observed warming in the Alps results from the shifts in temperature extremes induced by the behavior of the NAO. These changes are capable of having profound impacts on snow, hydrology, and mountain vegetation. Received January 11, 2001 Accepted Revised May 24, 2001     

近50年河南初夏旱涝异常特征分析

对1958～2006年河南38站的6月降水量进行分析,发现EOF第一模态呈全省一致的分布型,因此用38站平均降水量代表全省初夏降水.选取旱、涝年,对异常合成场进行分析,在涝年,北太平洋和日本以南洋面为负的潜热通量异常;500 hPa贝加尔湖以北有正的高度异常,我国东部和近海为正的高度异常,北太平洋为正的高度异常;850 hPa河南省西部是异常的东北风,东部是异常的西南风.通过定义高度指数,得到与河南省初夏降水关系密切的500 hPa高度场分布型,即贝加尔湖高压脊偏强,东亚大槽偏弱和西太副高偏北同时存在.对海洋要素场的相关分析表明,前期太平洋黑潮区的SST较高,海洋持续向大气输送潜热通量偏多,后期其东北侧太平洋从大气吸收热量,导致上空的位势高度偏高,有利于河南省降水.     

Global climate change and variability and its influence on Alpine climate — concepts and observations

Summary The paper discusses annual to decadal climate variability and change in the European Alps by utilizing the procedure of synoptic downscaling, i.e. it investigates the influence of global to continental scale synoptic structures and processes on the regional climate of the Alps. The European Alps lie to the southeast and under the right exit zone of the southwest-northeast oriented axis of the polar front jet over the North Atlantic ocean, in a transition zone between the Azores high and Icelandic low, between oceanic and continental and between Mediterranean and North Atlantic climates. Together with complex topographically induced phenomena like lee cyclogenesis, orographic precipitation, strong downslope winds and thermotopographical circulation systems, this transitional position makes climate studies in the Alps even more interesting. Only a minor correlation can be observed between global climate variability and Alpine climate. In contrast, the Alpine climate is strongly related to processes over the North Atlantic ocean and its sea ice system (e.g. it has a high correlation with the North Atlantic Oscillation and the dynamics and position of the Icelandic low), an area with a rather low climate prediction potential.Since the early 1970's (or just after the Great Salinity Anomaly in the North Atlantic Ocean) the intensification of the wintertime westerly jet over the North Atlantic area led to a noticeable northwest-southeast mass transport in the exit area of the jet over Central Europe, leading to pressure and temperature rises and an increase in the amount of precipitation. There is a question over whether this phenomenon is a consequence of natural climate variability or the beginning of an anthropogenic climate change.With 16 Figures     

Regional behavior of minimum temperatures in Switzerland for the period 1979–1993

Summary A series of anomalously cold and warm winters which occurred in Switzerland during the 15-year period from 1979 to 1993 has been analyzed in detail in terms of temperature minima. The warm winters between 1988–1992 were particularly marked in the Alps, where lack of snow had severe consequences for the tourist-based economies of mountain communities. The investigations presented here focus primarily on minimum temperature records for up to 88 climatological observing sites distributed over Switzerland.Analyses of the departures of temperature minima from the 15-year means in warm and cold winters has shown that there is a very significant altitudinal dependency of the anomalies except at low elevations which are subject to fog or stratus conditions; the stratus tends to decouple the underlying stations from processes occurring at higher altitudes. It is also shown that there is a switch in the gradient of the temperature anomaly with height from cold to warm winters. For warm winters, the higher the elevation, the stronger the positive anomaly; the reverse is true for cold winters. The statistics for the 88 observational stations provide a measure of the damping of the climate signal as an inverse function of height. The altitudinal dependency of temperature departures from the mean are the most important feature, followed by latitudinal effects (north and south of the Alps); continentality is not seen to be a major factor in determining the geographical distribution of temperature anomalies at this scale.The present investigation also emphasizes the fact that high elevation records can more readily identify significant interannual climatic fluctuations than at lower-elevation sites. This is also likely to be the case for longer-term climate change, where possibe greenhouse-gas warming would presumably be detected with more clarity at higher elevations. This type of study can help orientate future high-resolution climate model studies of climate change and in particular the assessment of model capability in reproducing a range of possible temperature anomalies and their altitudinal dependency.With 12 Figures     

THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE SNOW COVER PATTERN IN ESTONIA

The paper deals with problems of temporal and spatial variability of snow cover duration, of correlation between snow cover and winter mean air temperature patterns and of the impact of climate change on the snow cover pattern in Estonia. Snow cover fields are presented in form of IDRISI raster images. Snow cover duration measured at ca 100 stations and observation points have been interpolated into raster cells. On the base of time series of raster images, a map of mean territorial distribution of snow cover duration is calculated. Estonia is characterized by a great spatial variability of snow cover mostly caused by the influence of the Baltic Sea. General regularities of snow cover pattern are determined. A 104-year time series of spatial mean values of snow cover duration is composed and analyzed. A decreasing trend and periodical fluctuations have detected. Standardized principal component analysis is used for the time series of IDRISI raster images. It enables to study the influence of different factors on the formation of snow cover fields and territorial extent of coherent fluctuations. Correlation between snow cover duration and winter mean air temperature fields is analyzed. A spatial regression model is created for estimation of the influence of climate change on snow cover pattern in Estonia. Using incremental climate change scenarios (2 °C, 4 °C and 6 °C of warming in winter) mean decrease of snow cover duration in different regions in Estonia is calculated. According to results of model calculation, the highest decrease of snow cover duration will be take place on islands and in the coastal region of West Estonia. A permanent snow cover may not form at all. In the areas with maximum snow cover duration in North-East and South-East Estonia, that decrease should be much lower.     

Recent advances in mountain climate research

The paper provides a brief overview of recent advances in selected areas of mountain climate research. It addresses the contrasting vertical precipitation gradients in the Alps and in central Asia, snow line in the Alps, orographic precipitation in North America, the Mesoscale Alpine Programme wind studies, automatic weather stations in mountains, satellite remote sensing of glacier changes, and temperature change at high elevations. The evidence for altitudinal differences in the temperature response to recent warming is discussed.     

Modelled atmospheric response to changes in Northern Hemisphere snow cover

The surface boundary conditions are altered in a numerical simulation of January climate by prescribing (a) higher and (b) lower than average snow extent over Northern Hemisphere land masses. The anomalies in snow cover are shown to have quite a strong impact on the mean climatic state. Associated with an increase in the areal extent of the snow, there is a significant reduction in temperature throughout the lower troposphere. There are also large increases in sea-level pressure over most land areas. Significant responses in the mass field are also seen at 500 hPa where reductions in atmospheric thickness lead to significant negative anomalies in the height field. Responses are also seen non-locally, over both the North Pacific and North Atlantic basins. The impact of increased snow on cyclone tracks is also examined. A reduction in cyclones is noted over both continents and over the western sectors of both ocean basins. Over the North Atlantic basin this reduction extends across over Europe, significantly weakening the storm track. In the North Pacific, cyclone density is reduced in the west while in the east, there is actually a strengthening of the storm tracks. There are corresponding changes in the genesis of cyclones in both of these regions. The change in cyclogenesis, intensity and density is demonstrated to be associated with changes in baroclinicity between the two experiments. The anomalous snow boundary conditions lead to significant changes in the meridional temperature gradients over both ocean basins which impact on the baroclinic zones. Received: 5 January 1996 / Accepted: 4 May 1996     

Multidecadal variability of summer temperature over Romania and its relation with Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation

We investigate the multidecadal variability of summer temperature over Romania as measured at 14 meteorological stations with long-term observational records. The dominant pattern of summer temperature variability has a monopolar structure and shows pronounced multidecadal variations. A correlation analysis reveals that these multidecadal variations are related with multidecadal variations in the frequency of four daily atmospheric circulation patterns from the North Atlantic region. It is found that on multidecadal time scales, negative summer mean temperature (TT) anomalies are associated with positive sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies centered over the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean and Scandinavia and negative SLP anomalies centered over the northern part of Africa. It is speculated that a possible cause of multidecadal fluctuations in the frequency of these four patterns are the sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies associated to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). These results have implications for predicting the evolution of summer temperature over Romania on multidecadal time scales.     

2008年海洋和大气环流异常及对中国气候的影响

2008年,尽管总体来看,全国天气气候的持续异常较弱,未发生大范围持续干旱和严重洪涝灾害,但依然出现了非常显著的天气气候异常特征,如全国平均年降水量比常年偏多,为近10年来降水最多的年份;夏季华南降水异常偏多,黄淮降水偏多;年平均气温偏高,但冬季气温偏低,年初南方遭遇罕见低温雨雪冰冻灾害;在南海和西太平洋生成的台风个数明显偏少,但是登陆台风偏多,初台异常偏早.分析发现,2008年赤道中东太平洋总体处在冷水位相,受海洋异常强迫和海气相互作用的影响,北半球大气环流表现出的主要特征是:500hPa西太平洋副高强度和位置变化较大;冬夏季风均偏强;冬春季西太平洋暖池区热带对流活动偏强,夏秋季则偏弱;1月份,亚洲中高纬度经向环流异常发展,2至4月份则以纬向环流为主,春季后期至秋季,经纬向环流的转换较快,环流的持续性较弱.这些环流异常是影响2008年中国气候异常的主要原因.     

A 1052-year tree-ring proxy for Alpine summer temperatures

A June–August Alpine temperature proxy series is developed back to AD 951 using 1,527 ring-width measurements from living trees and relict wood. The reconstruction is composed of larch data from four Alpine valleys in Switzerland and pine data from the western Austrian Alps. These regions are situated in high elevation Alpine environments where a spatially homogenous summer temperature signal exists. In an attempt to capture the full frequency range of summer temperatures over the past millennium, from inter-annual to multi-centennial scales, the regional curve standardization technique is applied to the ring width measurements. Correlations of 0.65 and 0.86 after decadal smoothing, with high elevation meteorological stations since 1864 indicate an optimal response of the RCS chronology to June–August mean temperatures. The proxy record reveals warm conditions from before AD 1000 into the thirteenth century, followed by a prolonged cool period, reaching minimum values in the 1820s, and a warming trend into the twentieth century. This latter trend and the higher frequency variations compare well with the actual high elevation temperature record. The new central Alpine proxy suggests that summer temperatures during the last decade are unprecedented over the past millennium. It also reveals significant similarities at inter-decadal to multi-centennial frequencies with large-scale temperature reconstructions, however, deviating during certain periods from H.H. Lamb‘s European/North Atlantic temperature history.     

Fluctuations of snow accumulation in the Antarctic and sea level pressure in the Southern Hemisphere in the last 100 years

This paper summarizes the long-term fluctuations of snow accumulation in the Antarctic and analyzes its correlation with the sea level pressure (SLP) in the middle latitude (40°–50° S) of the Southern Hemisphere. Stratigraphic data which were compiled from studies on ice cores and snow-pits at eight stations in the Antarctic were used in the present study. It was found that the data concerning fluctuations in snow accumulation for East Antarctica showed correlations, whereas no such correlation was observed for the data from West Antarctica.This study shows possible relationships between snow accumulation in the Antarctic and SLP in the middle latitudes. The fluctuations of accumulation at South Pole, Dome C, Wilkes and South Ice Point show correlations with SLP over a large area in the 40°–50° S latitudinal zone. For the long-term fluctuations of SLP in the 40°–50 ° S latitudinal zone, a zonal fluctuation with wave number zero structure and a longitudinal variation of SLP anomalies due to their out-of-phase-fluctuation between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans were observed. The temporal scales for these fluctuations were found to be in the order of 20–30 years and 40–60 years, respectively. The influences of these two modes on the behaviour of snow accumulation in the Antarctic is also discussed.Now at Kitami Institute of Technology, Kitami, Hokkaido, Japan.     

冬半年欧亚雪盖变化对东亚环流的影响

对１９７３～１９９４年期间欧亚雪盖和东亚５００ｈＰａ高度距平资料进行旋转扩展主成分分析,研究了冬半年欧亚雪盖异常与后期夏半年东亚环流分布连续演变的关系及其可能机制。结果表明前期秋冬春季欧洲、中亚和东亚中高纬雪盖异常不同的动态变化激发出具有不同持续性的东亚低频流型,而夏半年东亚副热带环流纬向扩展型演变与前期冬半年欧亚雪盖异常无关。     

青藏高原大气热源和冬春积雪与中国东部降水的年代际变化关系

利用NCEP 1950—2004年逐日再分析资料,采用倒算法,对青藏高原大气热源的长期变化进行了计算,结果发现,青藏高原及附近地区上空大气春夏季热源在过去50年里,尤其是最近20年,表现为持续减弱的趋势。而1960—2004年青藏高原50站的冬春雪深却出现了增加,尤其是春季雪深在1977年出现了由少到多的突变。用SVD方法对高原积雪和高原大气热源关系的分析表明,二者存在非常显著的反相关关系,即高原冬春积雪偏多,高原大气春夏季热源偏弱。高原大气春夏季热源和中国160站降水的SVD分析表明,高原大气春夏季热源和夏季长江中下游降水呈反相关,与华南和华北降水呈正相关;而高原冬春积雪和中国160站降水的SVD分析显示,高原冬春积雪和夏季长江流域降水呈显著正相关,与华南和华北降水呈反相关。在年代际尺度上,青藏高原大气热源和冬春积雪与中国东部降水型的年代际变化(南涝北旱)有很好的相关。最后讨论了青藏高原大气热源影响中国东部降水的机制。青藏高原春夏季热源减弱,使得海陆热力差异减小,致使东亚夏季风强度减弱,输送到华北的水汽减少,而到达长江流域的水汽却增加;同时,高原热源减弱,使得副热带高压偏西,夏季雨带在长江流域维持更长时间。导致近20年来长江流域降水偏多,华北偏少,形成"南涝北旱"雨型。高原冬春积雪的增加,降低了地表温度,减弱了地面热源,并进而使得青藏高原及附近地区大气热源减弱。     

Monthly summaries of merchant ship surface marine observations and implications for climate variability studies

We compute the interannual fluctuations of the surface heat budget of the North Atlantic using the trimmed monthly summaries of the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere DataSet (COADS) for the period 1950–1979. The presence of long-period trends in the heat budget imply large variations of the northward cross-equatorial heat transport over the years. To assess the reliability of these variations, we compare the COADS climate signal to that derived from the ocean weather stations (OWSs) of the North Atlantic. The sea surface temperature, air temperature and sea level pressure show good correlation between the anomaly time series derived from the merchant ship monthly summaries of COADS, and those derived from OWS monthly summaries, except for northernmost locations during winter. In contrast, the sensible and latent heat parameters, which require simultaneous measurements of various variables, have merchant ships and ocean weather stations anomaly time series that are poorly correlated. Only in heavily travelled latitudes and during winter, when the air-sea heat exchange anomalies are large, are the merchant ship measurements able to reproduce the interannual fluctuations of the heat fluxes. The long-period trends in the surface heat budget of North Atlantic equatorward of 40° N implied by COADS thus appear unrepresentative of true climate trends. The COADS trends result from a gradual increase in the magnitude of the reported winds over the years due probably to variations in the ratio of measured to estimated winds, as well as from long period fluctuations in the near surface vertical temperature and humidity gradients. Offprint requests to: R Michaud     

EOF方法恢复历史气候要素场的研究

本文用自然正交展开，通过对典型场所对应的时间系数的恢复，达到了恢复气候要素场的目的，利用云南６个站已有的５月雨量资料，恢复出１９个站的５月雨量场资料，检验表明，所恢复的记录在一定程度上重视了特殊年份降水量场的特征。     

POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTION OF A TROPICAL CYCLONE TO SHORT-TERM CLIMATE ANOMALIES IN EAST ASIA VIA SNOW COVER ON THE TIBETAN PLATEAU

Snow cover on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has been shown to be essential for the East Asian summer monsoon. In this paper, we demonstrate that tropical cyclone (TC) 04B (1999) in the northern Indian Ocean, which made landfall during the autumn of 1999, may have contributed to climate anomalies over East Asia during the following spring and summer by increasing snow cover on the TP. Observations indicate that snow cover on the TP increased markedly after TC 04B (1999) made landfall in October of 1999. Sensitivity experiments, in which the TC was removed from a numerical model simulation of the initial field, verified that TC 04B (1999) affected the distribution as well as increased the amount of snow on the TP. In addition, the short-term numerical modeling of the climate over the region showed that the positive snow cover anomaly induced negative surface temperature, negative sensible heat flux, positive latent heat flux, and positive soil temperature anomalies over the central and southern TP during the following spring and summer. These climate anomalies over the TP were associated with positive (negative) summer precipitation anomalies over the Yangtze River valley (along the southeastern coast of China).     

A 1,000-year ice core record of interannual to multidecadal variations in atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic

Interannual to multidecadal modes in ocean/atmosphere dynamics in the North Atlantic region have been identified using sea salt aerosol proxy records from northern Greenland ice cores over the last 1,000 years. Sea salt concentrations show a consistent relationship with anomalies in the meridional pressure gradient over the North Atlantic region over all considered time scales. These pressure anomalies are connected to shifts in storm tracks, leading to lower pressure and higher storm activity, hence, higher sea salt export over the Greenland ice sheet. Two modes of long-term variability with a period of 10.4 years and 62 years could be identified. The latter is connected to long-term changes in sea surface temperature (SST) as documented by a high correlation of North Atlantic SST with our sea salt record over the last 150 years. Long-term reconstruction of these modes shows that the 10.4-year cycle has been a phenomenon persistent over the last millennium while the 62-year cycle has been mainly active after 1700. Accordingly, the longer-term persistence of this multidecadal variability in sea salt points also to significant variations in SST over the last 300 years.