Yasutaka Wakazuki, Masayuki Hara, Mikiko Fujita, Chieko Suzuki, Xieyao Ma, Fujio Kimura
Released: May 28, 2015

Effect of climate change on the snow disappearance date in mountainous areas of central Japan

Yasutaka Wakazuki1) 2), Masayuki Hara3), Mikiko Fujita2), Chieko Suzuki2), Xieyao Ma2), Fujio Kimura2)

1) Center for Research in Isotopes and Environment Dynamics, University of Tsukuba
2) Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
3) Center for Environmental Science in Saitama

We investigated climate change in the annual snow cover period in mountainous areas of central Japan by downscaling simulations of four climate change projections based on a Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP3) Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) A1B emission scenario using a regional climate model. Our numerical simulation reproduced well the observed snow depths and areas of snow cover. The projected snow disappearance date in all areas occurred earlier in the future climate due to global warming and were substantially earlier in areas of both light and heavy snowpacks in the present climate. The time shift was smaller at areas where the present-day maximum snow depth is around 100 cm and the snow disappearance date is in mid-April. These projected changes in the duration of snow cover were associated with decreasing snowfall and accelerated snowmelt due to increasing surface air temperatures. The effect was interpreted using an idealized model of temporal variation in surface air temperature. Earlier snowmelt causes local enhancement of surface air temperature increases that will have considerable impact on mountain ecosystems.

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