Author: Jefferson D. Wright
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
Severe winter weather is something that impacts everyone in some way, and there are always questions regarding how severe a winter season has been and how external factors can influence the severity of winter. Characteristics of severe winter weather include large snowfall accumulations, persistent snow depths, extreme cold temperatures, or extended cold snaps, and the Midwest United States is subject to these conditions on a multitude of spatial and temporal scales. A method of quantifying the severity of winter known as the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index (AWSSI) has been employed for this study, and utilizes daily records of the aforementioned winter severity characteristics to generate a value that can represent how severe an individual winter season has been, as well as the long term average winter severity for a given location. The variability in Midwest winter severity has been a topic of many previous studies, but a study regarding the long term changes as well as the drivers of winter severity with respect to the AWSSI has not been accomplished. Using daily records of snowfall, snow depth, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature, the goal of this study is to use the AWSSI to quantify these long term changes and impacts of different teleconnection phases on Midwest winter severity. The teleconnection patterns explored in this study include the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Pacific-Decadal Oscillation (PDO), the Arctic Oscillation (AO), and the Pacific North American (PNA) pattern. The analysis is divided into three phases consisting of (1) establishing a general winter climatology within the study area, (2) determining the long term changes in winter severity and the associated parameters, and (3) examining the impacts of teleconnection patterns on the inter-annual variability in Midwest winter severity.
Spatial and Temporal Variability of Midwest Winter Severity
Author: Jefferson D. Wright
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
Severe winter weather is something that impacts everyone in some way, and there are always questions regarding how severe a winter season has been and how external factors can influence the severity of winter. Characteristics of severe winter weather include large snowfall accumulations, persistent snow depths, extreme cold temperatures, or extended cold snaps, and the Midwest United States is subject to these conditions on a multitude of spatial and temporal scales. A method of quantifying the severity of winter known as the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index (AWSSI) has been employed for this study, and utilizes daily records of the aforementioned winter severity characteristics to generate a value that can represent how severe an individual winter season has been, as well as the long term average winter severity for a given location. The variability in Midwest winter severity has been a topic of many previous studies, but a study regarding the long term changes as well as the drivers of winter severity with respect to the AWSSI has not been accomplished. Using daily records of snowfall, snow depth, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature, the goal of this study is to use the AWSSI to quantify these long term changes and impacts of different teleconnection phases on Midwest winter severity. The teleconnection patterns explored in this study include the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Pacific-Decadal Oscillation (PDO), the Arctic Oscillation (AO), and the Pacific North American (PNA) pattern. The analysis is divided into three phases consisting of (1) establishing a general winter climatology within the study area, (2) determining the long term changes in winter severity and the associated parameters, and (3) examining the impacts of teleconnection patterns on the inter-annual variability in Midwest winter severity.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
Severe winter weather is something that impacts everyone in some way, and there are always questions regarding how severe a winter season has been and how external factors can influence the severity of winter. Characteristics of severe winter weather include large snowfall accumulations, persistent snow depths, extreme cold temperatures, or extended cold snaps, and the Midwest United States is subject to these conditions on a multitude of spatial and temporal scales. A method of quantifying the severity of winter known as the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index (AWSSI) has been employed for this study, and utilizes daily records of the aforementioned winter severity characteristics to generate a value that can represent how severe an individual winter season has been, as well as the long term average winter severity for a given location. The variability in Midwest winter severity has been a topic of many previous studies, but a study regarding the long term changes as well as the drivers of winter severity with respect to the AWSSI has not been accomplished. Using daily records of snowfall, snow depth, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature, the goal of this study is to use the AWSSI to quantify these long term changes and impacts of different teleconnection phases on Midwest winter severity. The teleconnection patterns explored in this study include the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Pacific-Decadal Oscillation (PDO), the Arctic Oscillation (AO), and the Pacific North American (PNA) pattern. The analysis is divided into three phases consisting of (1) establishing a general winter climatology within the study area, (2) determining the long term changes in winter severity and the associated parameters, and (3) examining the impacts of teleconnection patterns on the inter-annual variability in Midwest winter severity.
Climate Change Impacts on Snowpack Heterogeneity
Author: Adrienne M. Marshall
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Book Description
Throughout the western United States, seasonal snowpack is critical for water resources timing and availability and ecosystem function. Warming temperatures associated with climate change reduce snow accumulation and advance melt timing, with serious consequences for snow-dependent social and ecological systems. While many impacts of climate change on snowpack are well established, this dissertation investigates several elements of changing snowpack that have not been previously assessed. In particular, each chapter contributes to an improved understanding of the changing heterogeneity of snow under climate change. The first chapter tests the sensitivity of snow drifting to altered climate, using a physically-based hydrologic model and thirty years of hydroclimatological data at a site where aspen stands are subsidized by a wind-driven snow drift. We find a warming-induced reduction in snow drifting, increase in ecohydrologic homogeneity across the landscape, and altered interannual variability of hydrologic metrics. The second chapter assesses changes in interannual variability of snowpack magnitude and timing across the western United States, using downscaled global climate model data as forcing to the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model. We find that changes in interannual variability are spatially heterogeneous across the western U.S., but that interannual variability of annual maximum snow water equivalent (SWE[max]) decreases in regions transitioning from snow- to rain-dominated precipitation regimes. Changes in the date of SWE[max] are less spatially coherent, but agreement between general circulation models (GCMs) is most reliably found at relatively warm sites where the date of SWE[max] variability increases. The third chapter assesses another element of snow heterogeneity by testing the effect of snowfall intensity on winter ablation. Using a statistical modeling approach with observational snow data, we find that higher snowfall intensity is associated with reduced winter ablation; projected changes in snowfall intensity will likely exacerbate warming-induced increases in winter ablation in the maritime mountains of the western U.S. and mitigate it in the cooler continental regions. Finally, a fourth interdisciplinary, collaborative chapter synthesizes research on climate change in the mountainous headwaters of the Columbia River Basin. Findings show that research in this basin is focused on climate change impacts, rather than adaptation or mitigation, that social and biophysical sciences are not well integrated, and that research priorities differ across an international boundary. Cumulatively, this set of studies advances knowledge of how the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of snowpack will respond to climate change in the western United States, with implications for snow-dependent social and ecological systems.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Book Description
Throughout the western United States, seasonal snowpack is critical for water resources timing and availability and ecosystem function. Warming temperatures associated with climate change reduce snow accumulation and advance melt timing, with serious consequences for snow-dependent social and ecological systems. While many impacts of climate change on snowpack are well established, this dissertation investigates several elements of changing snowpack that have not been previously assessed. In particular, each chapter contributes to an improved understanding of the changing heterogeneity of snow under climate change. The first chapter tests the sensitivity of snow drifting to altered climate, using a physically-based hydrologic model and thirty years of hydroclimatological data at a site where aspen stands are subsidized by a wind-driven snow drift. We find a warming-induced reduction in snow drifting, increase in ecohydrologic homogeneity across the landscape, and altered interannual variability of hydrologic metrics. The second chapter assesses changes in interannual variability of snowpack magnitude and timing across the western United States, using downscaled global climate model data as forcing to the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model. We find that changes in interannual variability are spatially heterogeneous across the western U.S., but that interannual variability of annual maximum snow water equivalent (SWE[max]) decreases in regions transitioning from snow- to rain-dominated precipitation regimes. Changes in the date of SWE[max] are less spatially coherent, but agreement between general circulation models (GCMs) is most reliably found at relatively warm sites where the date of SWE[max] variability increases. The third chapter assesses another element of snow heterogeneity by testing the effect of snowfall intensity on winter ablation. Using a statistical modeling approach with observational snow data, we find that higher snowfall intensity is associated with reduced winter ablation; projected changes in snowfall intensity will likely exacerbate warming-induced increases in winter ablation in the maritime mountains of the western U.S. and mitigate it in the cooler continental regions. Finally, a fourth interdisciplinary, collaborative chapter synthesizes research on climate change in the mountainous headwaters of the Columbia River Basin. Findings show that research in this basin is focused on climate change impacts, rather than adaptation or mitigation, that social and biophysical sciences are not well integrated, and that research priorities differ across an international boundary. Cumulatively, this set of studies advances knowledge of how the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of snowpack will respond to climate change in the western United States, with implications for snow-dependent social and ecological systems.
Spatial and Temporal Variability in Snow Melt Onset Over Arctic Sea Ice and Associated Atmospheric Conditions [microform]
Author: Sheldon D. Drobot
Publisher: Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 376
Book Description
Publisher: Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 376
Book Description
Spatial and Temporal Variability of Meltwater Pathways in a Continental Subalpine Snowpack
Author: Alejandro Enrique Machado
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Runoff
Languages : en
Pages : 108
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Runoff
Languages : en
Pages : 108
Book Description
Origins of Temporal and Spatial Variability of Lake-effect Snow Structures
Temporal and spatial variability of snow cover as determined from data and models
Selected Water Resources Abstracts
Selected Water Resources Abstracts
The Long Winter
Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Blizzards
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
After an October blizzard, Laura's family moves into town for the winter.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Blizzards
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
After an October blizzard, Laura's family moves into town for the winter.