C43F-02
Different sensitivity of snowpack to climate warming in Mediterranean mountain areas
Thursday, 17 December 2015: 13:55
3005 (Moscone West)
Juan Ignacio López, IPE-CSIC, Zaragoza, Spain, Javier Herrero, University of Granada, Granada, Spain, Simon Gascoin, Centre d'Etudes Spatiales de la Biosphere, Toulouse Cedex 9, France, Eric A Sproles, US EPA, Corvallis, OR, United States, Lahoucine Hanich, Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech, Morocco, Abdelghani Boudhar, Université Sultan Moulay Slimane, Béni-Mellal, Morocco, John W Pomeroy, Univ Saskatchewan, Canmore, AB, Canada and Marc Pons, University of Andorra, Sant Julia de Loria, Andorra
Abstract:
This work analyses the differences in climate and snowpack characteristics in different Mediterranean mountain areas. Differences in latitude and specific climate conditions lead to strong contrasts in snowpack duration and accumulation, but also in the contribution of the various components of energy and mass balance of the snowpacks. Such differences lead also to different sensitivities to increasing temperature when snowpack is simulated for different warming scenarios. Mountain areas located at lower elevation and southernmost latitude are noticeably more sensitive to climate warming than others where currently accumulates a thicker and long lasting snowpack. Results clearly inform that projected changes on snowpack and hydrology of mountain areas for the future are not only dependent on the magnitude of simulated climate under different emission scenarios, but also on the differences of snowpack characteristics that is currently found when different mountains are compared. Thus, results highlight the need of more intercomparison exercises across mountainous regions of the world to better understand climate change impacts on mountain hydrology.
