[1] This paper compares seasonal and spatial variations of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedos with those from the Common Land Model (CLM) by land cover type. MODIS albedo data in the year 2001 were used to determine seasonal, spatial, and land cover dependence at 1 km resolution and to investigate the biases in CLM. Albedo dependence on vegetation type is smaller than...

Snow albedo feedback is one of the most crucial feedback processes that control equilibrium climate sensitivity, which is a central parameter for better prediction of future climate change. However, persistent large discrepancies and uncertainties are found in snow albedo feedback estimations. Remotely sensed snow cover products, atmospheric reanalysis data and radiative kernel data are used in...

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°...

BACKGROUND Long-term studies allow capture of a wide breadth of environmental variability and a broader context within which to maximize our understanding of relationships to specific aspects of wildlife behavior. The goal of our study was to improve our understanding of the biological value of dense conifer cover to deer on winter range relative to snow depth and ambient temperature. METHODO...

The spatial distribution of the mountain snow cover is of high importance for many issues in hydrology (e.g. water supply, flooding), natural hazards (e.g. snow avalanches) or mountain ecology. The snow distribution is typically characterised by a strong spatial heterogeneity, that is the result of different processes interacting with the local topography. Characterising this spatial heterogene...

Information on snow cover and snow properties is an important factor for hydrology and runoff modeling. Frequent updates of snow cover information can help to improve water balance and discharge calculations. Within the frame of Polar View, snow products from multisensoral satellite data are operationally provided to control and update water balance models for large parts of Southern Germany. T...

Snow covered area is an important variable in snowmelt runoff modelling. SAR can supply information on this parameter by detecting the decrease in the backscattering coefficient which occurs when the snowpack becomes wet. However, the method is subject to several geometric, geophysical and logistical constraints which limit its general applicability. These include missing coverage due to relief...

Future climate will alter the soil cover of mosses and snow depths in the boreal forests of eastern Canada. In field manipulation experiments, we assessed the effects of varying moss and snow depths on the physiology of black spruce (Picea -mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) in the boreal black spruce forest of western Québec. For 1 year, naturally regenera...

[1] We examined the effects of snow, event size, basin size, and forest harvest on floods using >1000 peak discharge events from 1953 to 2006 from three small (<1 km), paired‐watershed forest‐harvest experiments and six large (60–600 km) basins spanning the transient (400–800 m) and seasonal (>800 m) snow zones in the western Cascades of Oregon. Retrospectively classified rain‐on‐snow events de...