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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 33, L16503, doi:10.1029/2006GL027258, 2006

Spatial variability and trends in observed snow depth over North America

Jamie L. Dyer

Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, USA


Thomas L. Mote

Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA


Abstract

This study uses a gridded dataset of daily U.S. and Canadian surface observations from 1960–2000 to study regional spatial and temporal variability and trends in snow depth across North America. Analysis shows minimal change in North American snow depth through January, with regions of decreasing snow depths beginning in late January. These regional decreases grow in intensity and extent through March and into April, implying an earlier onset of spring melt. The region showing the greatest decreases in snow depth occurs in central Canada, along a line from the Yukon Territory in northwestern Canada to the Great Lakes region. The regional decreases in spring snow depth across central Canada are likely a result of more rapid melt of shallower winter snowpacks, evident through shallower snow cover (2–10 cm) during May and October and a decrease in extent of deeper snowpacks (>40cm) through March and April.

Received 21 June 2006; accepted 27 July 2006; published 31 August 2006.

Index Terms: 0736 Cryosphere: Snow (1827, 1863); 0772 Cryosphere: Distribution; 1621 Global Change: Cryospheric change (0776); 1863 Hydrology: Snow and ice (0736, 0738, 0776, 1827).

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Citation: Dyer, J. L., and T. L. Mote (2006), Spatial variability and trends in observed snow depth over North America, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L16503, doi:10.1029/2006GL027258.