Multiscale Changes in Snow Over the Tibetan Plateau During 1980–2018 Represented by Reanalysis Data Sets and Satellite Observations

The Tibetan Plateau has experienced substantial warming during the last few decades. As a result, the cryosphere of the Tibetan Plateau, including the snow cover, has shown significant changes. We characterized the changes in snow over the Tibetan Plateau using several snow‐related indices, including snow depth and snow‐covered days based on the MERRA‐2 and JRA‐55 reanalysis data set and passive microwave (MW) satellite observations. The analyses were performed over different time periods—including the last 38, 30, 20, and 10 snow seasons—from 1980 to 2018. The results show that the significant trends in snow depth and snow‐covered days are dependent on both the season and region and vary with the data set and snow‐related index used. There was a clear decrease in the annual maximum consecutive snow‐covered days (CSCDMax), and this was characterized by a later begin time and an earlier end time for both MERRA‐2 and JRA‐55, but only a later begin time for MW during the time period 1980–2018. The changes in CSCDMax were generally dominated by changes in the begin time, which were mainly caused by the increase in the average 2‐m air temperature for November–December. The relatively weak trends in the end time were a result of the combined impact of warmer temperatures and more precipitation in March–April. The CSCDMax averaged over the Tibetan Plateau showed decreasing trends in all studied time periods for JRA‐55 and MW and in the last 38 and 10 snow seasons for MERRA‐2 during the time period 1980–2018.

• Publication year

  2020

• Venue

  Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

• Publication date

  2020-09-23

• Fields of study

  Geography, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1029/2019JD031914
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• The Tibetan Plateau cryosphere: Observations and model simulations for current status and recent changes

  2019cited by this paper
• Evaluation of snow depth and snow cover over the Tibetan Plateau in global reanalyses using in situ and satellite remote sensing observations

  2019influential reference
• Evaluation and Intercomparison of Multiple Snow Water Equivalent Products over the Tibetan Plateau

  2019cited by this paper
• Evaluation of snow depth and snow-cover over the Tibetan Plateau in global reanalyses using in-situ and satellite remote sensing observations

  2019influential reference
• Low‐frequency snow changes over the Tibetan Plateau

  2018cited by this paper
• Recent Evidence of Large-Scale Receding Snow Water Equivalents in the European Alps

  2017influential reference
• Land Surface Precipitation in MERRA-2

  2017cited by this paper
• Snow data assimilation‐constrained land initialization improves seasonal temperature prediction

  2016cited by this paper
• Evaluation of snow products over the Tibetan Plateau

  2015cited by this paper
• Characteristics of the Tibetan Plateau snow cover variations based on daily data during 1997–2011

  2015cited by this paper
• Inter-Calibrating SMMR, SSM/I and SSMI/S Data to Improve the Consistency of Snow-Depth Products in China

  2015cited by this paper
• Spatial–Temporal Variability of Snow Cover and Depth in the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

  2015cited by this paper
• The JRA-55 Reanalysis: General Specifications and Basic Characteristics

  2015cited by this paper
• Effect of snow cover on pan-Arctic permafrost thermal regimes

  2015cited by this paper
• Recent climate changes over the Tibetan Plateau and their impacts on energy and water cycle: A review

  2014cited by this paper
• Progress in studies of cryospheric changes and their impacts on climate of China

  2014cited by this paper
• Declining snow cover may affect spring phenological trend on the Tibetan Plateau

  2013cited by this paper
• Spatiotemporal changes of snow cover over the Tibetan plateau based on cloud-removed moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer fractional snow cover product from 2001 to 2011

  2013cited by this paper
• Discharge regime and simulation for the upstream of major rivers over Tibetan Plateau

  2013cited by this paper
• Increased mass over the Tibetan Plateau: From lakes or glaciers?

  2013cited by this paper
• Snow depth and snow water equivalent estimation from AMSR-E data based on a priori snow characteristics in Xinjiang, China

  2012cited by this paper
• Evaluation of multireanalysis products with in situ observations over the Tibetan Plateau

  2012cited by this paper
• Observed changes in snow depth and number of snow days in the eastern and central Tibetan Plateau

  2011cited by this paper
• Effects of snow cover on soil freezing, water movement, and snowmelt infiltration: A paired plot experiment

  2010cited by this paper
• Review of climate and cryospheric change in the Tibetan Plateau

  2010cited by this paper
• Snow depth derived from passive microwave remote-sensing data in China

  2008cited by this paper
• Snow Cover and Depth of Freeze-Thaw on the Tibetan Plateau: A Case Study from 1997 to 1998

  2008cited by this paper
• Tibetan Plateau warming and precipitation changes in East Asia

  2008cited by this paper
• Influence of the seasonal snow cover on the ground thermal regime: An overview

  2005cited by this paper
• JRA‐25: Japanese 25‐year re‐analysis project—progress and status

  2005cited by this paper
• Responses of China's summer monsoon climate to snow anomaly over the Tibetan Plateau

  2003cited by this paper
• Impact of the timing and duration of seasonal snow cover on the active layer and permafrost in the Alaskan Arctic

  2003cited by this paper
• A catchment‐based approach to modeling land surface processes in a general circulation model: 1. Model structure

  2000cited by this paper
• Climatic warming in the Tibetan Plateau during recent decades

  2000cited by this paper
• The interactive multisensor snow and ice mapping system

  1998cited by this paper
• Development of methods for mapping global snow cover using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer data

  1995cited by this paper
• Seasonal Heating of the Tibetan Plateau and Its Effects on the Evolution of the Asian Summer Monsoon

  1992cited by this paper
• A Simple Biosphere Model (SIB) for Use within General Circulation Models

  1986cited by this paper
• The Atmospheric Heat Source over the Tibetan Plateau: May–August 1979

  1985cited by this paper
• Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/hyp.6720 Enhancements to, and forthcoming developments in the Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS) †

  year unknowninfluential reference

• Evolution of spatiotemporal variations in snow in the Tianshan Mountains and Pamir, Central Asia: An investigation by historical and projected dynamic downscaling simulations

  2025cites this paper
• On snow hazard mapping over the Chinese mainland by using observational and reanalysis datasets

  2025cites this paper
• Contribution of snow water equivalent to the terrestrial water storage changes in High Mountain Asia based on multiple datasets

  2025cites this paper
• Intercomparison of Runoff and River Discharge Reanalysis Datasets at the Upper Jinsha River, an Alpine River on the Eastern Edge of the Tibetan Plateau

  2025cites this paper
• Prevention capacity significantly reduced the livestock exposure to snow hazards across the Qinghai Plateau

  2024cites this paper
• Forces for recent snow cover variation on the Mount Everest region

  2024cites this paper
• Snow Cover Mapping Based on SNPP-VIIRS Day/Night Band: A Case Study in Xinjiang, China

  2023cites this paper
• A Precursory Signal of June–July Precipitation over the Yangtze River Basin: December–January Tropospheric Temperature over the Tibetan Plateau

  2023cites this paper
• Snow depth variability across the Qinghai Plateau and its influencing factors during 1980–2018

  2022cites this paper
• Integrated hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical dataset of an alpine catchment in the northern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

  2022cites this paper
• Future snow changes and their impact on the upstream runoff in Salween

  2022cites this paper
• Observational Constraint on the Contribution of Surface Albedo Feedback to the Amplified Tibetan Plateau Surface Warming

  2022cites this paper
• Snow depth and snow cover over the Tibetan Plateau observed from space in against ERA5: matters of scale

  2022cites this paper
• Accounting for Topographic Effects on Snow Cover Fraction and Surface Albedo Simulations Over the Tibetan Plateau in Winter

  2022cites this paper
• Spatio-Temporal Variation Characteristics of Snow Depth and Snow Cover Days over the Tibetan Plateau

  2021cites this paper
• Evaluation of snow depth and snow cover represented by multiple datasets over the Tianshan Mountains: Remote sensing, reanalysis, and simulation

  2021cites this paper
• Development of a fine-resolution snow depth product based on the snow cover probability for the Tibetan Plateau: Validation and spatial-temporal analyses

  2021cites this paper
• Spatiotemporal variations of land surface albedo and associated influencing factors on the Tibetan Plateau.

  2021cites this paper
• Datasets for research on groundwater flow and its interactions with surface water in an alpine catchment on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, China

  2021cites this paper
• Analysis of stable snowpack distribution pattern and influencing factors

  year unknowncites this paper