Excellent overview article by Ed Struzik on the phenomena known as ‘Rain on Snow’ in the Yale Environment360 and the AGU EOS online magazines. The article features an interview with the project leader of the Arctic Rain on Snow Study (AROSS), a project which shares several researchers and themes with the CHARTER project. CHARTER folks engaged in the AROSS project
Congratulations to Philip Burgess and Irina Wang! Their StoryMap ‘When Rains Fell in Winter‘ has been nominated as a finalist for the 2023 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition, which focuses on the restoration and conservation of the earth’s lands and waters. The competition is organised by Esri and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The winner will be announced at
Remote sensing specialist and CHARTER project researcher Annett Bartsch of bgeos and others have looked at developing a long-term monitoring system for rain-on-snow (ROS) events across the Arctic using satellite data. They explored the utility of different microwave frequencies from passive and active satellite sensors to detect wet snow and snow structure change during and after ROS events. The authors
We are excited to let you know about an important new CHARTER publication which has just been released. Published in the journal The Cryosphere, the article is lead authored by Annett Bartsch, who is the leader of Work Package 1 is titled: Towards long-term records of rain-on-snow events across the Arctic from satellite data. The article has input from many
Longer daylight hours and milder temperatures means optimal snow covered fieldwork time. A number of CHARTER project reseachers are undertaking fieldwork periods this week. Temperatures are mild at this time of year in northern Scandinavia, currently in the -8 to +2 degrees range during the day and -15 to -8 overnight. The melting and refreezing of the snow surface makes
Lumen päälle satava vesi ja lumipeitteen jääkerrokset ovat CHARTER- hankkeessa erityisen kiinnostuksen kohteena. Jäiset kerrokset vaikuttavat kasvien talvehtimisoloihin ja vaikeuttavat eläinten kaivautumista lumen läpi. Tällä on merkitystä myös pohjoisen elinkeinoille, muun muassa poronhoidolle. Lumipeitteen kerrosrakenne ja jääkerrokset havaitaan paikan päällä tehtävien lumikuoppien avulla. Näitä havaintoja hyödyntävät satelliittiavusteisten lumihavaintojen kehittäjät sekä lumi- ja ilmastomallinnuksen tekijät. Havaintoaineistoa voisivat käyttää myös alueen asukkaat
One aspect of the CHARTER project is to gain a better understanding of snow icing events, such as happens when rain falls on snow. This affects animal movements and behaviours and hinders animals from digging through the snow. Icing also impacts plants, and are very relevant for livelihoods such as reindeer herding. Snow profile observations (by digging snow pits to
An important new article with substantial CHARTER input has just been published in the journal Nature Communications. The article is titled New climate models reveal faster and larger increases in Arctic precipitation than previously projected. In other words, climate models are predicting that snowfall will be replaced by rain fall in the future, and this will occur at a faster rate than previous models suggested. You can download the article here (open access)
This phenomena is referred to as ‘Rain on Snow’ or ROS and it is something that is predicted to happen more often with potentially disastrous impacts on biodiversity in the Arctic. By way of example, tens of thousands of reindeer have died as a result of repeated ROS events in the Yamal peninsula and Finland in recent years, with potentially catastrophic consequences for reindeer herding peoples and cultures. The phenomona is also hazardous for other wildlife as rain refreezes and turns to ice, creating a physical barrier to pastures and nutrition. While ROS events are not unheard of, the frequency with which they are happening is.
One aspect of CHARTER is gaining a better understanding of snow icing events, such as rain-on-snow events and their impacts. Snow cover layer structures and snow grains in the layers are constantly changing due to temperature differences between the snow surface and ground, and due to new snowfall. Crust layers are typically formed by melting
An article has recently been published with substantial CHARTER researcher input. Published in the journal ‘Environmental Research Letters it is titled Arctic rain on snow events: bridging observations to understand environmental and livelihood impacts, the lead author is Marc Serreze of the National Snow and Ice Center, Uni of Colorado. CHARTER researchers involved include Julienne Stroeve, Bruce C Forbes, Sirpa Rasmus, Roza Laptander, and Annett
