The unusual nature of recent snowpack declines in the North American cordillera
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Abstract
In western North America, snowpack has declined in recent decades, and further losses are projected through the 21st century. Here, we evaluate the uniqueness of recent declines using snowpackreconstructions from 66 tree-ring chronologies in key runoff-generating areas of the Colorado, Columbia, and Missouri River drainages. Over the past millennium, late 20th century snowpack reductions are almost unprecedented in magnitude across the northern Rocky Mountains and in their north-south synchrony acrossthe cordillera. Both the snowpack declines and their synchrony result from unparalleled springtime warming that is due to positive reinforcement of the anthropogenic warming by decadal variability. The increasing roleof warming on large-scale snowpack variability and trends foreshadows fundamental impacts on streamflow and water supplies across the western United States.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | The unusual nature of recent snowpack declines in the North American cordillera |
| Series title | Science |
| DOI | 10.1126/science.1201570 |
| Volume | 333 |
| Issue | 6040 |
| Year Published | 2011 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | AAAS |
| Publisher location | New York, NY |
| Contributing office(s) | Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center |
| Description | 4 p. |
| First page | 332 |
| Last page | 335 |
| Country | United States |
| Online Only (Y/N) | N |
| Additional Online Files (Y/N) | N |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |