Seasonal trends and temperature dependence of the snowfall/precipitation-day ratio in Switzerland
Gaelle Serquet, Christoph Marty, Jean-Pierre Dulex & Martine Rebetez
| Résumé |
This paper analyzes the proportion of snowfall days relative to
precipitation days, in order to assess the impact of changing
temperatures on snowfall, while minimizing the impact of variations
in precipitation frequency and intensity. We analyzed the ratio of
snowfall days to precipitation days for up to 100 years at 76
meteorological stations, spanning elevations from 200 to 2700 m asl
in Switzerland. Our results show clear decreasing trends in snowfall
days relative to precipitation days. These decreases are connected
to increasing temperatures. The decrease in snowfall days was
stronger at lower elevations, i.e., at locations with temperatures
closer to the melting point. We observed a baseline seasonal
temperature threshold of -2.7 degrees C +/- 0.8 degrees C in winter
and -3.8 degrees C +/- 0.6 degrees C in spring, above which the
decrease in snowfall days grew rapidly. From these observations, we
developed an empirical model that can be used to evaluate the impact
of future temperature increases on snowfall, independent of changes
in the frequency and intensity of precipitation events. Citation:
Serquet, G., C. Marty, J.-P. Dulex, and M. Rebetez ( 2011),
Seasonal trends and temperature dependence of the
snowfall/precipitation-day ratio in Switzerland, Geophys. Res.
Lett., 38, L07703, doi:10.1029/2011GL046976. |
| Citation | Serquet, G., Marty, C., Dulex, J. P., & Rebetez, M. (2011). Seasonal trends and temperature dependence of the snowfall/precipitation-day ratio in Switzerland. Geophysical Research Letters, 38. |
| Type | Article de périodique (Anglais) |
| Date de publication | 2011 |
| Nom du périodique | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Volume | 38 |