Seminar: Snow Cover in the Climate System

Monday, October 19th 12 pm

David A. Robinson

Professor, Department of Geography

New Jersey State Climatologist

Rutgers University

ABSTRACT

Snow covers approximately 30% of the Earth’s land surface on a seasonal basis, with additional coverage over alpine glaciers, polar ice sheets and sea ice. The physical characteristics of a snow-covered landscape, including its influence on surface reflectance, result in snow playing a critical role in the climate system. The water content of a snowpack is important to the hydrologic regime in many locations, whether serving as a reservoir or a flood threat. Snow extent is an important climate variable to monitor when assessing climate change, as it is closely associated with temperature, moisture and atmospheric circulation. Snow cover, or the lack thereof, is of considerable importance for decision makers in transportation, recreation, utility and other sectors of local and global economies. This presentation will provide an overview of snow cover’s role in the climate system. In particular it will look at the variability of snow cover extent over Northern Hemisphere lands during the satellite era, where a decrease in spring extent rivals that of the loss of Arctic summer sea ice.