Assessing the Sensitivity of Wasatch Mountain Snowfall to Future Climate Temperature
Location
Eccles Conference Center
Event Website
http://water.usu.edu/
Start Date
4-2-2009 8:40 AM
End Date
4-2-2009 9:00 AM
Description
Since global climate simulations are unable to resolve narrow mountain ranges (such as the Wasatch of northern Utah), lower confidence is generally given to the specifics of the model precipitation estimates in such areas. The objective of this study is to isolate the potential impact of future temperature changes in the intermountain West upon winter precipitation. We assume that general circulation models are able to resolve year-to-year regional variations in mid-tropospheric fields such as temperature and wind, although biases between rawinsonde observations and the present climate simulations are evident locally. Statistical downscaling approaches are tested using present climate simulations and then applied to future greenhouse gas emission scenario simulations. The change in percentage of precipitation falling as rain rather than snow per degree Celsius increase in temperature is estimated. Implications for the rapidly growing population centers of the western United States dependent on winter snowpack will be discussed.
Assessing the Sensitivity of Wasatch Mountain Snowfall to Future Climate Temperature
Eccles Conference Center
Since global climate simulations are unable to resolve narrow mountain ranges (such as the Wasatch of northern Utah), lower confidence is generally given to the specifics of the model precipitation estimates in such areas. The objective of this study is to isolate the potential impact of future temperature changes in the intermountain West upon winter precipitation. We assume that general circulation models are able to resolve year-to-year regional variations in mid-tropospheric fields such as temperature and wind, although biases between rawinsonde observations and the present climate simulations are evident locally. Statistical downscaling approaches are tested using present climate simulations and then applied to future greenhouse gas emission scenario simulations. The change in percentage of precipitation falling as rain rather than snow per degree Celsius increase in temperature is estimated. Implications for the rapidly growing population centers of the western United States dependent on winter snowpack will be discussed.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/runoff/2009/AllAbstracts/20