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Observed Hydrological Cycle

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Arctic Climate Change

Part of the book series: Atmospheric and Oceanographic Sciences Library ((ATSL,volume 43))

Abstract

The transition between the liquid and solid phase affects all processes in the Arctic. The solid phase is a special challenge to the instruments and the scientists who develop new instruments or analyze, correct, and interpret the observed data.

This chapter shows some results from observed parameters of the hydrological cycle, that is, precipitation, snow, runoff, and the atmospheric moisture flux into the polar cap. The precipitation in the Arctic catchments shows only for central Siberia a slight decreasing trend in summer and in North Europe an increasing trend in winter. In Northern Eurasia in winter, the snow depth and snow cover duration increase, as well as the temperature. The runoff and the atmospheric moisture flux derived from radiosonde data show no temporal changes. The uncertainties are still high due to the sparse measuring network, and satellite data are not yet usable for climatological purposes.

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Abbreviations

APDA:

Arctic Precipitation Data Archive

ARDB:

Arctic Runoff Data Base

CIS:

Commonwealth of Independent States (FSU Former Soviet Union)

CMAP:

CPC Merged Analysis of Precipitation

cog:

center of gravity

CPC:

Climate Prediction Center (NOAA)

CRU:

Climate Research Unit

DARE:

WMO Data Rescue Program

ECMWF:

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

ERA15:

ECMWF 15 Years Re-Analysis

ERA40:

ECMWF 40 Years Re-Analysis

FAO:

UN Food and Agricultural Organization

FSU:

Former Soviet Union

GDCN:

Global Daily Climatology Network

GHCN:

Global Historical Climate Network

GIS:

Geographic Information system

GPCC:

Global Precipitation Climatology Centre

GPCP:

Global Precipitation Climatology Project

GPM:

Global Precipitation Mission

GRDC:

Global Runoff Data Centre

GTS:

Global Telecommunication System

HARA:

Historical Arctic Rawinsonde Archive

HD:

hydrological discharge model

NCAR:

National Center for Atmospheric Research

NCEP:

National Centers for Environmental Prediction

NESDIS:

National Environmental Satellite Data, and ­Information Service (NOAA)

NHS:

National Hydrological Services

NOAA:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NRA:

NCEP Reanalysis

NSIDC:

National Snow and Ice Data Center

NWP:

Numerical Weather Prediction models

R-ArcticNet:

Regional Electronic, Hydrographic Data Network For the Arctic Region

RC:

runoff coefficient

SL:

land surface scheme

TOVS:

TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder

TRMM:

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

USSR:

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

WMO:

World Meteorological Organization

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Weatherservice, Frankfurter Str. 135, D-63067, Offenbach, Germany

    Hermann Mächel & Bruno Rudolf

  2. Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Am Mainzer Tor 1, D-56002, Koblenz, Germany

    Thomas Maurer

  3. Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Bundesstraße 53, D-20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Stefan Hagemann

  4. WetterOnline Meteorologische Dienstleistungen GmbH, Am Rheindorfer Ufer 2, D-53117, Bonn, Germany

    Reinhard Hagenbrock

  5. Institute of Geography RAS, Staromonetniy 29, 109017, Moscow, Russia

    Lev Kitaev

  6. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute, 43, Blindern, 0313, Oslo, Norway

    Eirik J. Førland & Ole Einar Tveito

  7. All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of the Hydrological and Meteorological Information – World Data Center, Koroleva 6, 249020, Obninsk, Russia

    Vjacheslav Rasuvaev

Authors
  1. Hermann Mächel
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  2. Bruno Rudolf
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  3. Thomas Maurer
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  4. Stefan Hagemann
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  6. Lev Kitaev
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  7. Eirik J. Førland
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  8. Vjacheslav Rasuvaev
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  9. Ole Einar Tveito
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Correspondence to Hermann Mächel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Polar- und Meeresforschung, Alfred-Wegener-Institut für, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Peter Lemke

  2. Alfred Wegener Institute, Am Handelshafen 12, Bremerhaven, 27570, Germany

    Hans-Werner Jacobi

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Mächel, H. et al. (2012). Observed Hydrological Cycle. In: Lemke, P., Jacobi, HW. (eds) Arctic Climate Change. Atmospheric and Oceanographic Sciences Library, vol 43. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2027-5_5

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