首页|Impacts of landscape and climatic factors on snow cover in the Altai Mountains,China

Impacts of landscape and climatic factors on snow cover in the Altai Mountains,China

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Snow properties and their changes are crucial to better understanding of hydrological processes,soil thermal regimes,and surface energy balances.Reliable data and information on snow depth and snow water equivalent(SWE)are also crucial for water resource assessments and socio-economic development at local and regional scales.However,these data are extremely limited and unreliable in northern Xinjiang,China.This study thus aims to investigate spatial variations of snow depth,SWE,and snow density based on winter snowfield surveys during 2015 through 2017 in the Altai Mountains,northwestern China.The results indicated that snow depth(25-114 cm)and SWE(40-290 mm)were greater in the alpine Kanas-Hemu region,and shallow snow accumulated(9-42 cm for snow depth,26-106 mm for SWE)on the piedmont sloping plain.While there was no remarkable regional difference in the distribution of snow density.Snow property distributions were strongly controlled by topography and vegetation.Elevation and latitude were the most important factors affecting snow depth and SWE,while snow density was strongly affected by longitude across the Altai Mountains in China.The influence of topography on snow property distributions was spatially heterogenous.Mean snow depth increased from 13.7 to 31.2 cm and SWE from 28.5 to 79.9 mm,respectively,with elevation increased from 400 to 1000 m a.s.l.on the piedmont sloping plain.Snow depth decreased to about 15.1 cm and SWE to about 28.5 mm from 1000 to 1800 m a.s.l.,then again increased to about 98.1 cm and 271.7 mm on peaks(～2000 m a.s.l.)in the alpine Kanas-Hemu.Leeward slopes were easier to accumulate snow cover,especially on north-,east-,and southeast-facing slopes.Canopy interception was also the cause of the difference in snow distribution.Snow depth,SWE,and snow density in forests were reduced by 8％-53％,2％-67％and-4％to+48％,respectively,compared with surrounding open areas.Especially when snow depth was less than 40 cm,snow depth and SWE differences in forests were more exag-gerated.This study provides a basic data set of spatial distributions and variations of snow depth,SWE and snow density in the Altai Mountains,which can be used as an input parameter in climate or hydrological models.These first-hand observations will help to better understand the relationship between snow,topography and climate in mountainous regions across northern China and other high-mountain Asian regions.

Altai MountainsSnow coverTopographyVegetationClimate factor

ZHONG Xin-Yue、ZHANG Tingjun、SU Hang、XIAO Xiong-Xin、WANG Shu-Fa、HU Yuan-Tao、WANG Hui-Juan、ZHENG Lei、ZHANG Wei、XU Min、WANG Jian

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Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province,Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Lanzhou,730000,China

Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems(Ministry of Education),College of Earth and Environmental Sciences,Lanzhou University,Lanzhou,730000,China

State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science,Wuhan University,Wuhan,430072,China

School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering,Wuhan University,Wuhan,430072,China

Institute of Atmospheric Sciences,Fudan University,Shanghai,200433,China

Gansu Tianshui Power Supply Company,Tianshui,741000,China

School of Geospatial Engineering and Science,Sun Yat-Sen University,Guangzhou,510275,China

State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science,Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Lanzhou,730000,China

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This work was funded by the Major Project of China High-resolution Earth Observation SystemStrategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of SciencesScience&Technology Basic Resources Investigation Program of Chinaand National Key R&D Program of China##

21-Y20B01-9001-19/22XDA201003132017FY1005032019YFC1510501

2021

气候变化研究进展(英文版)
国家气候中心

气候变化研究进展(英文版)

CSCDSCI
影响因子：0.806
ISSN：1674-9278
年,卷(期)：2021.12(1)
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