Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 42, Issue 11, Pages 4429-4438Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1002/2015GL063898
Keywords
snowpack variability; alpine snowpack; climate-driven snowpack; Central Rocky Mountains; SNOTEL; Northern Idaho-Montana Rockies
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Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's (NSERC) Climate Change and Atmospheric Research (CCAR) program through the Canadian Sea Ice and Snow Evolution (CanSISE) Network
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We employ a regression-based methodology to study the impact of temperature and precipitation on snowpack variability as a function of elevation in the Central Rocky Mountains. Because of the broad horizontal coverage and thermal heterogeneity of the measurement sites employed, we introduce an elevation correction based on the sites' climatological temperature. For the elevation range investigated (1295-2256m), and assuming an average atmospheric lapse rate of -6.5 degrees C/km, we find a mostly linear relationship between effective elevation and correlation of temperature or precipitation with snow water equivalent and snowpack duration. We estimate a threshold elevation, 1560 120m, below (above) which temperature (precipitation) is the main driver of the snowpack. This threshold elevation is robust under a range of assumed atmospheric lapse rates. Locations below this elevation are likely to be affected by projected rising temperatures, with important effects on ecosystems and economic activities dependent on snow.
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