Snow cover response to temperature and precipitation variability in Central European mountain ranges

Mountainous areas are uniquely susceptible to climate change, making them good indicators of these changes. Research results from different parts of the world indicate recent warming of mountainous regions, particularly located since the 1980s, with different intensity in particular vertical zones. Temperature growth is not followed by significant trends in annual precipitation totals however it brings the change in precipitation annual structure and types what influences the occurrence and persistence of snow cover.

As snow cover is a key element of the Earth’s system with the impact on hydrology, climate, and ecological environment any changes in snowpack patterns will have a complex effect. The aim of the study is to examine the variability of snow cover variables (snow depth and snow cover duration) and they sensitivity to the main atmospherical drivers (temperature and precipitation) including inter-annual variations, and trends over various time scales.

The research has been conducted for mountain areas in Central Europe, defined as the terrain with the elevation above 500 m a.s.l. in the domain of 5°E - 25°E and 47°N-55°N. The analyses cover the period 1981-2022 and are based on various meteorological data sources, i.e. in-situ snow depth observations and near ground temperature and precipitation measurements (serving as reference data) as well as regional reanalysis ERA5-Land and CERRA-Land.

The primarily research results confirm the significant impact of temperature and precipitation change on snow cover characteristics with the differentiation of its intensity dependent on geographical and terrain variables as the altitude, landform, slope and exposition. Nevertheless multiannual variability of snowpack persistence with its decreasing trend over the whole research area has been observed.

Detailed understanding of the timing of snow accumulation and snow ablation is necessary as it controls the mountain runoff rate during the spring, water infiltration and groundwater storage as well as the transpiration rate, crucial elements of hydrological cycle.