Abstract
Gansu is an inland province located in the northwest of China with an arid to semi-arid climate and a developed animal husbandry. Snowmelt in Gansu is an important source of water for rivers and plays an important role in ecological environment and social-economic activities. In this study, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 8-day composite snow products MOD10A2 and MYD10A2 are combined to analyse snow cover variations during the snow season (October to March) period from 2002 to 2013. We define the snow area percentage (SAP) and snow cover occurrence percentage (SCOP) to analyse the spatial and temporal characteristics of the snow cover variation in Gansu. In addition, we apply the Mann-Kendall test to verify the SAP inter-annual variation. The results indicate that the SAP in Gansu remained above 5 % with three peaks in November, December and January. SAP varies a lot in the four sub-regions of Gansu, with the highest in the Gannan Plateau sub-region and the lowest in the Longzhong Loess Plateau sub-region in most of the snow seasons examined. The SCOP is high in the southwest mountains and low in the northeast Gobi and desert. The SCOP is highly related to elevation in most of Gansu, with an exception in the high mountains. In the Hexi Desert and oasis region, the SAP significantly decreases during the snow season, particularly in February and March. We find that there are a significantly negative correlation between SCOP and temperature during the snow season and a significantly positive correlation between SCOP and precipitation in December.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Armstrong RL, Brodzik MJ (2001) Recent Northern Hemisphere snow extent: a comparison of data derived from visible and microwave satellite sensors. Geophys Res Lett 28(19):3673–3676. doi:10.1029/2000GL012556
Barnett TP, Dümenil L, Schlese U, Roeckner E (1988) The effect of Eurasian snow cover on global climate. Science 239(4839):504–507. doi:10.1126/science.239.4839.504
Bavay M, Lehning M, Jonas T, Löwe H (2009) Simulations of future snow cover and discharge in alpine headwater catchments. Hydrol Process 23(1):95–108. doi:10.1002/hyp.7195
Biggs EM, Atkinson PM (2011) A characterization of climate variability and trends in hydrological extremes in the Severn Uplands. Int J Climatol 31(11):1634–1652. doi:10.1002/joc.2176
Bulygina ON, Groisman PY, Razuvaev VN, Korshunova NN (2011) Changes in snow cover characteristics over Northern Eurasia since 1966. Environ Res Lett 6(4):045204. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/6/4/045204
Cohen J, Rind D (1991) The effect of snow cover on the climate. J Clim 4(7):689–706. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1991)004<0689:TEOSCO>2.0.CO;2
Dewey KF, Heim JR (1982) A digital archive of Northern Hemisphere snow cover, November 1966 through December 1980. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 63(10):1132–1141. doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1982)063<1132:ADAONH>2.0.CO;2
Farr TG, Rosen PA, Caro E, Crippen R, Duren R, Hensley S, Kobrick M, Paller M, Rodriguez E, Roth L, Seal D, Shaffer S, Shimada J, Umland J, Werner M, Oskin M, Burbank D, Alsdorf D (2007) The shuttle radar topography mission. Rev Geophys 45(2). doi:10.1029/2005RG000183
Feng SW (1989) Geography introduction in Gansu. Lanzhou Education Press, Lanzhou (in Chinese)
Foppa N, Seiz G (2012) Inter-annual variations of snow days over Switzerland from 2000–2010 derived from MODIS satellite data. Cryosphere 6(2):331–342. doi:10.5194/tc-6-331-2012
Frei A, Robinson DA (1999) Northern hemisphere snow extent: regional variability 1972–1994. Int J Climatol 19(14):1535–1560. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1991)004<0689:TEOSCO>2.0.CO;2
Grody NC, Basist AN (1996) Global identification of snow cover using SSM/I measurements. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote 34(1):237–249. doi:10.1109/36.481908
Hall DK, Riggs GA (2007) Accuracy assessment of the MODIS snow products. Hydrol Process 21(12):1534–1547. doi:10.1002/hyp.6715
Hall DK, Riggs GA, Salomonson VV (1995) Development of methods for mapping global snow cover using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer data. Remote Sens Environ 54(2):127–140. doi:10.1016/0034-4257(95)00137-P
Hall DK, Riggs GA, Salomonson VV, DiGirolamo NE, Bayr KJ (2002) MODIS snow-cover products. Remote Sens Environ 83(1):181–194. doi:10.1016/S0034-4257(02)00095-0
Han LY, Sun LD, Zhang CJ, Guo AM (2011) The snow coverage change in eastern section of Qilian Mountain and its responding. J Arid Land Resour Environ 25(5):109–112 (in Chinese)
Huang XD, Zhang XT, Li X, Liang TG (2007) Accuracy analysis for MODIS snow products of MOD10A1 and MOD10A2 in Northern Xinjiang area. J Glaciol Geocryol l29(5):722–729, in Chinese
Jia ZB (2009) The 7th Chinese forest resource report. China Forestry Publishing House, Beijing, in Chinese
Ke CQ, Liu X (2014) MODIS-observed spatial and temporal variation in snow cover in Xinjiang, China. Clim Res 59(1):15–26. doi:10.3354/cr01206
Ke CQ, Yu T, Yu K, Tang GD, King L (2009) Snowfall trends and variability in Qinghai, China. Theor Appl Climatol 98(3–4):251–258. doi:10.1007/s00704-009-0105-1
Klein AG, Hall DK, Riggs GA (1998) Improving snow cover mapping in forests through the use of a canopy reflectance model. Hydrol Process 12(10–11):1723–1744. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1085(199808/09)12:10/11<1723::AID-HYP691>3.0.CO;2-2
Liang TG, Huang XD, Wu CX, Liu XY, Li WL, Guo ZG, Ren JZ (2008) An application of MODIS data to snow cover monitoring in a pastoral area: a case study in Northern Xinjiang, China. Remote Sens Environ 112(4):1514–1526. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2007.06.001
Linde J, Grab S (2011) The changing trajectory of snow mapping. Prog Phys Geogr 35(2):139–160. doi:10.1177/0309133311399493
Luo F, Qi SZ, Xiao HL (2005) Landscape change and sandy desertification in arid areas: a case study in Zhangye Region of Gansu Province, China. Environ Geol 49(1):90–97. doi:10.1007/s00254-005-0062-7
Maskey S, Uhlenbrook S, Ojha S (2011) An analysis of snow cover changes in the Himalayan region using MODIS snow products and in-situ temperature data. Clim Chang 108(1–2):391–400. doi:10.1007/s10584-011-0181-y
Mazari N, Tekeli AE, Xie H, Sharif HO, Hassan AA (2013) Assessment of ice mapping system and moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer snow cover maps over Colorado Plateau. J Appl Remote Sens 7(1):073540–073540. doi:10.1117/1.JRS.7.073540
Oguntunde PG, Friesen J, van de Giesen N, Savenije HH (2006) Hydroclimatology of the Volta River Basin in West Africa: trends and variability from 1901 to 2002. Phys Chem Earth 31(18):1180–1188. doi:10.1016/j.pce.2006.02.062
Parajka J, Pepe M, Rampini A, Rossi S, Blöschl G (2010) A regional snow-line method for estimating snow cover from MODIS during cloud cover. J Hydrol 381(3):203–212. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.11.042
Paudel KP, Andersen P (2011) Monitoring snow cover variability in an agropastoral area in the Trans Himalayan region of Nepal using MODIS data with improved cloud removal methodology. Remote Sens Environ 115(5):1234–1246. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2011.01.006
Pu Z, Xu L (2009) MODIS/Terra observed snow cover over the Tibet Plateau: distribution, variation and possible connection with the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM). Theor Appl Climatol 97(3–4):265–278. doi:10.1007/s00704-008-0074-9
Pu Z, Xu L, Salomonson VV (2007) MODIS/Terra observed seasonal variations of snow cover over the Tibetan Plateau. Geophys Res Lett 34(6). doi:10.1029/2007GL029262
Ramsay BH (1998) The interactive multisensor snow and ice mapping system. Hydrol Process 12(10):1537–1546. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1085(199808/09)12:10/11<1537::AID-HYP679>3.3.CO;2-1
Salomonson V, Appel I (2006) Development of the Aqua MODIS NDSI fractional snow cover algorithm and validation results. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote 44(7):1747–1756. doi:10.1109/TGRS.2006.876029
Shi Y, Shen Y, Kang E, Li D, Ding Y, Zhang G, Hu R (2007) Recent and future climate change in northwest China. Clim Chang 80(3–4):379–393. doi:10.1007/s10584-006-9121-7
Sönmez I, Tekeli AE, Erdi E (2014) Snow cover trend analysis using Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System data over Turkey. Int J Climatol 34(7):2349–2361. doi:10.1002/joc.3843
Tang Z, Wang J, Li H, Yan L (2013) 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. J Appl Remote Sens 7(1):073582–073582. doi:10.1117/1.JRS.7.073582
Wang X, Xie H, Liang T (2008) Evaluation of MODIS snow cover and cloud mask and its application in Northern Xinjiang, China. Remote Sens Environ 112(4):497–513. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2007.05.016
Wang W, Liang T, Huang X, Feng Q, Xie H, Liu X, Chen M, Wang X (2013) Early warning of snow-caused disasters in pastoral areas on Tibetan Plateau. Nat Hazard Earth Syst 13(6):1411–1425. doi:10.5194/nhess-13-1411-2013
Xia W, Xie H, Ke CQ (2014) Assessing trend and variation of Arctic sea ice extent during 1979–2012 from a latitude perspective of ice edge. Polar Res 33:21249. doi:10.3402/polar.v33.21249
Xie H, Liang T, Wang X (2009) Development and assessment of combined Terra and Aqua snow cover products in Colorado Plateau, USA and northern Xinjiang, China. J Appl Remote Sens 3(1):033559–033559. doi:10.1117/1.3265996
Zhou X, Xie H, Hendrickx JMH (2005) Statistical evaluation of remotely sensed snow-cover products with constraints from streamflow and SNOTEL measurements. Remote Sens Environ 94(2):214–231. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2004.10.007
Acknowledgments
This work is financially supported by a program from the National Nature Science Foundation (No. 41371391), a program from the National Key Technology Research and Development (No. 2012BAH28B02) and a program from the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20120091110017). Also, this work was partially supported by the Collaborative Innovation Center of Novel Software Technology and Industrialization. The MODIS snow data used in this study are obtained from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (http://nsidc.org).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, X., Ke, CQ. & Shao, ZD. Snow cover variations in Gansu, China, from 2002 to 2013. Theor Appl Climatol 122, 487–496 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-014-1306-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-014-1306-9