title: Observed contrast changes in snow cover phenology in northern middle and high latitudes from 2001-2014.
abstract: Quantifying and attributing the phenological changes in snow cover are essential for meteorological, hydrological, ecological, and societal implications. However, snow cover phenology changes have not been well documented. Evidence from multiple satellite and reanalysis data from 2001 to 2014 points out that the snow end date (De) advanced by 5.11 (±2.20) days in northern high latitudes (52-75°N) and was delayed by 3.28 (±2.59) days in northern mid-latitudes (32-52°N) at the 90% confidence level. Dominated by changes in De, snow duration days (Dd) was shorter in duration by 5.57 (±2.55) days in high latitudes and longer by 9.74 (±2.58) days in mid-latitudes. Changes in De during the spring season were consistent with the spatiotemporal pattern of land surface albedo change. Decreased land surface temperature combined with increased precipitation in mid-latitudes and significantly increased land surface temperature in high latitudes, impacted by recent Pacific surface cooling, Arctic amplification and strengthening westerlies, result in contrasting changes in the Northern Hemisphere snow cover phenology. Changes in the snow cover phenology led to contrasting anomalies of snow radiative forcing, which is dominated by De and accounts for 51% of the total shortwave flux anomalies at the top of the atmosphere.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.|Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaona
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.|Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Shunlin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.|Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Yunfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Dongdong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D001272:Atmosphere; D019992:Databases as Topic; D005843:Geography; D012621:Seasons; D012914:Snow; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis