Snow Cover as an Indicator of Climate Change

尽管对全球变暖的担忧 一些气候学家，地理学家， 和其他大气科学家已经注意到， 也可能发生降水的量、形式和时间。 的 积雪覆盖的范围和持续时间是衡量 可以识别降水和温度模式， 覆盖率是一个变量，许多国家都有历史数据， 延续了几十年 对这些历史资料的分析是必不可少的 以帮助识别积雪的自然变化，这种模式 如果人类活动导致降雪量的变化， 活动或其他因素。 该项目将 将每日测量数据整合到一个统一的数据库中， 大约1，000个观测站的积雪和相关变量 在美国、苏联、加拿大、中国和几个欧洲国家， nations. 美国和苏联的记录可以追溯到1949年的早期。 20世纪。 这些综合数据将在统计上 分析以检验关于空间和时间变异性的假设 并区分随机变化和长期变化 趋势 该项目最有价值的贡献将是 将历史数据整合到一个单一的数据库， 可供本研究者和其他科学家使用， 对气候变异性和变化的广泛调查。 的 该项目还将提供雪的基本变化分析 覆盖整个北方半球在世纪，从而 加强对全球气候模式变化的普遍了解， 过去100年。

Although much of the concern about possible global warming has focused on changes in temperatures, some climatologists, geographers, and other atmospheric scientists have noted that substantial changes in the amount, form, and timing of precipitation also may occur. The extent and duration of snow cover is one measure by which changing precipitation and temperature patterns may be identified, and snow cover is a variable for which many nations have historical data that extends over decades. Analyses of these historical data are essential to help identify natural variability in snow cover, a pattern that must be distinguished if changes in snowfall resulting from human activities or other factors are to be identified. This project will integrate into a single, coherent database the daily measurements of snow cover and related variables for roughly 1,000 observation stations in the United States, Soviet Union, Canada, China, and several European nations. Records in the USA and USSR extend back to the early years of the 20th Century. These integrated data will be statistically analyzed to test hypotheses about the spatial and temporal variability of snow cover and to differentiate random variability from long-term trends. The most valuable contribution of this project will be the integration of historical data into a single database, which will be available for use by this investigator and by other scientists for a wide range of inquiries into climatic variability and change. The project also will provide analyses of fundamental variations in snow cover across the Northern Hemisphere during the 20th Century, thereby enhancing general understandings of changing climatic patterns over the last 100 years.