GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 4, 1188, doi:10.1029/2002GL016326, 2003
Rain-on-snow events impact soil temperatures and affect ungulate survival
Quaternary Research Center and Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington,
Seattle, Washington, USA
Quaternary Research Center and Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Washington,
Seattle, Washington, USA
[1] Field data from Spitsbergen and numerical modeling reveal that rain-on-snow (ROS) events can substantially increase sub-snowpack soil temperatures. However, ROS events have not previously been accounted for in high latitude soil thermal analyses. Furthermore such events can result in widespread die-offs of ungulates due to soil surface icing. The occurrence of Spitsbergen ROS events is controlled by the North Atlantic Oscillation. Globally, atmospheric reanalysis data show that significant ROS events occur predominantly over northern maritime climates, covering 8.4 × 106 km2. Under a standard climate change scenario, a global climate model predicts a 40% increase in the ROS area by 2080–2089.
Received 23 September 2002; revised 21 November 2002; accepted 27 December 2002; published 26 February 2003.
Index Terms: 1823 Hydrology: Frozen ground; 1863 Hydrology: Snow and ice (1827); 3322 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Land/atmosphere interactions; 3349 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Polar meteorology; 3354 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Precipitation (1854).
Citation: , Rain-on-snow events impact soil temperatures and affect ungulate survival, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(4), 1188, doi:10.1029/2002GL016326, 2003.