European snowcover extent variability: a climatology from 1967-2002
Date
2006
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Snowcover in Europe represents an important component of the region’s climatic system. Variability in its extent can have major implications on factors such as low-level temperatures, the amount of heat released from soil to the overlying atmosphere and energy allocation involved in the warming and melting of the snow pack. The majority of studies investigating Northern Hemisphere snowcover identify European snowcover extent as a subset of the Eurasian record, possibly masking complexities of this subset. This study explores the variability of European snowcover extent from 1967-2000, with the region in question including that area of Europe extending eastward to the Ural Mountains (60°E). Using the 89x89 gridded NOAA Northern Hemisphere weekly snowcover product, area estimates of seasonal snowcover were calculated, and their relationship to gridded temperature, precipitation and sea level pressure data analyzed. The spatial variability of snowcover extent was also explored using GIS mapping techniques. The influence of 500-hPa geopotential heights, sea-surface temperature and sea-level pressure variability on snowcover area was also investigated. Results indicate strong associations between snowcover extent and these variables, with a distinctive north/south di-pole pattern evident in the sea-level pressure.