![]() ![]() This dust can include disturbed soil from construction, farming, and livestock, and fine wildfire debris. Winds carry fine sediment particles from arid regions, and dust lofted high enough into the atmosphere can travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. In the Rocky Mountains, as in many mountain ranges worldwide, snowpack is getting dirtier. As a result, 5 percent less water from the total snowpack flowed into the Upper Colorado River as runoff. This dirtier snow shortened snow cover duration by a month or more, making meltwater available to plants earlier in the spring. On snow, these impurities absorb sunlight and quickly transfer that energy into warmth, melting snow faster. In 2009, dust from disturbed deserts of the West increased by 500 percent on the Colorado Rocky Mountains snowpack. Trees, plants, and soil reflect only 10 to 30 percent of sunlight. However, dirty snow or dust-covered snow can reflect much less. Snow's albedo, or how much sunlight it reflects back into the atmosphere, is very high, reflecting 80 to 90 percent of the incoming sunlight. Snow's high reflectivity helps Earth's energy balance because it reflects solar energy back into space, which helps cool the planet. Snow cover has the largest influence during springtime (April to May) in the Northern Hemisphere, when days become longer and the amount of sunshine increases over snow-covered areas. Snow cover is an important climate change variable because of its influence on energy and moisture budgets. For instance, in Europe and Asia, the cooling associated with a heavy snowpack and moist spring soils can shift the arrival of the summer monsoon season and influence how long it lasts. On a smaller scale, variations in snow cover can affect regional weather patterns. On such a large scale, snow cover helps regulate the exchange of heat between Earth's surface and the atmosphere, or Earth's energy balance. In terms of area, snow cover is the largest single component of the cryosphere, with almost all snow cover located in the Northern Hemisphere. ![]() Because of its ability to store water, snow has been referred to as a “reservoir.” Snow cover helps regulate the temperature of Earth's surface, and once that snow melts, the water helps fill rivers and reservoirs in many regions of the world, especially the western United States. Seasonal snow is an important part of Earth's climate system. If spring arrives too early, hibernating animals may miss out on crucial early spring food.īy studying snow, how it forms, where it falls, and how the snowpack changes over time, scientists can better understand how snow affects our planet and our society. If frost kills flowers, then there is no nectar or pollen for bees and other pollinators, and no seeds for animals. Increasingly common, false starts to spring stretch beyond the Arctic into many other parts of the globe, leaving plants, insects, migratory birds, and even crops vulnerable to subsequent freezes. This is most apparent in the Arctic, but with the Arctic warming two to three times the rate of the rest of the planet, animals like the snowshoe hares, which are white during winter and brown during summer, are more easily susceptible to predators because snow is melting earlier while many hares are still wearing their white coats. Some animals have evolved to use snow as camouflage. Snow also affects wildlife migration, hibernation, and survival. ![]() A study published in 2020 identifies global snow-drought hotspots-eastern Russia, Europe, and the western United States-where snow droughts were longer and more intense in the second half of the 1980 to 2018 period.įor current drought conditions in the United States, go to. It also means lower generation of hydropower. In areas that get a large majority of their water from winter snowpacks, snow droughts could mean lower water availability in the spring and summer. Credit: Bureau of Land Managementīeyond weather and climate, snow has far-reaching effects on people because of snow’s importance to global food, water, travel hazards, avalanche risks, and infrastructure design.
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