Effects of Temperature Variability and Warming on the Timing of Snowmelt Events in Southern Finland during the Past 100 Years

Journal: Region - Water Conservancy DOI: 10.32629/rwc.v3i1.134

Masoud Irannezhad

Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech)

Abstract

This study analyses the first and last days of snowmelt events and the number of days (duration) between those throughout a water year (September-August). The snowmelt duration (SD) as well as its first (SFD) and last (SLD) days were estimated using daily precipitation and temperature measurements at the Kaisaniemi meteorological station in southern Finland during 1909-2008 as input datasets to a temperature-index snowmelt model. As snowmelt is a sensitive hydrological variable to temperature, this study also evaluated historical variations and trends in November-May (SDt), November-January (SFDt), and March-May (SLDt) temperatures corresponding to SD, SFD, and SLD at Kaisaniemi. The trends in all these parameters as well as their correlations with the well-known climate teleconnections over Finland were investigated. Long-term average values indicated the longest SD was about 131 days between 15 December and 25 April at Kaisaniemi. The SD significantly (p<0.05) shortened by 0.37 (days/year) at Kaisaniemi during 1909-2008 mainly due to the earlier (0.32 days/year) SLD. Such trends in SD and SLD were principally associated with century-long significant warming trends (0.02 °C/year) in both SDt and SLDt. The Arctic Oscillation (AO) was the most influential climate teleconnection for historical variations in SD, SLD, SDt, SFDt, and SLDt at Kaisaniemi.

Keywords

duration; first and last days; Kaisaniemi; trend analysis; snowpack hydrological processes; temperature-index model; climate teleconnections.

Funding

Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI); Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE); The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA

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References

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