Nordic Hydrology 36 (2005) 311-319

Distribution of snow cover over Northern Eurasia

Lev Kitaev, Eirik Førland, Vjacheslav Razuvaev, Ole Einar Tveito and Olaf Krueger

Institute of Geography RAS, 109017 Moscow, Staromonetniy 29, Russia, .*Corresponding author.lkitaev@online.ru

Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway

All-Russian Research Institute of Hydrometeorological Information - World Data Centre, Obninsk, Russia

Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway

Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany

Based on observation data the spatial variability and long-term trends of snow depth, snow water equivalent and number of days with snow coverage ≥50% for Northern Eurasia are estimated. The significance of continental snow cover variability over Northern Eurasia is illustrated by comparison with snow cover variability of the northern part of North America (Canada). The fundamental scientific problem of our investigations is revealing spatial and temporal changes of snow cover under the present climate conditions. The snow cover depends on a climate on the one hand and appreciably defines a hydrological regime on the other hand and, thus, the snow cover is a good indicator of changes in the condition of an environment. In this case the condition of the snow cover of the Northern hemisphere on an example of Northern Eurasia within the boundaries of the NIS and the northern part of North America within the boundaries of Canada is investigated. The novelty of the work, in particular, consists in the attraction to the analysis of a lot of long-term data on the snow cover of two continents. As a result the general regularity of spatial heterogeneity and the long-term variability of snow stocks were revealed.

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