image: Seasonal snowmelt provides freshwater to populations around the world. view more
Credit: Image credit: Amir AghaKouchak.
A study examines changes in the duration and intensity of snow droughts worldwide over the past nearly 40 years. Snow is globally important for food, water, and energy security, and snow droughts can have severe social, economic, and environmental consequences. Yet snow droughts remain poorly characterized, with no consistent global monitoring framework. Laurie Huning and Amir AghaKouchak developed a standardized approach for assessing deficits in snow water equivalent--the amount of water stored in snow--and characterizing droughts across regions of varying climates and snow regimes around the world. Using this framework, the authors found that in eastern Russia, Europe, and the western United States, snow droughts were longer and more intense during the second half of the period 1980-2018 than during the first half of the same period. The Hindu Kush, Himalayas, extratropical Andes, and Patagonia exhibited the opposite pattern, with shorter and less intense droughts in the latter half of the same period compared with the prior half. The authors note that these changes likely result from a combination of natural and human-induced factors, including Arctic warming, declining sea ice, and shifting of the polar vortex. According to the authors, the framework could be useful for drought monitoring and uncovering physical drivers of snow drought.
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Article #19-15921: "Global snow drought hot spots and characteristics," by Laurie S. Huning and Amir AghaKouchak.
MEDIA CONTACT: Laurie S. Huning, University of California, Irvine, CA; tel: 310-403-9648; e-mail: lhuning@uci.edu
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences