Snowmelt‐Radiation Feedback Impact on Western U.S. Streamflow

Author:

Ban Zhaoxin1ORCID,Xin Chen1ORCID,Fang Yiwen2ORCID,Ma Xiaoyu1,Li Dongyue1ORCID,Lettenmaier Dennis P.1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Department of Geography University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles CA USA

2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles CA USA

Abstract

AbstractOngoing runoff declines in the Colorado River Basin have been shown to be predominately driven by decreasing albedo from warming‐driven snow‐cover loss, especially in late‐spring (hereafter snowmelt‐radiation feedback). Here, we explore the feedback's impact on annual runoff sensitivity to warming across the western U.S. (WUS) using hydrologic model simulations. For 1°C uniform warming, we show that runoff is most sensitive to warming in modestly snow‐covered, interior mountain headwaters, especially the Rocky Mountains. Runoff sensitivities are most associated with the snowmelt‐radiation feedback in basins with runoff coefficients between 0.2 and 0.6, where runoff sensitivity increases with more snow and lower winter temperature. In aggregate, ∼48% of WUS runoff sensitivity is attributable to the snowmelt‐radiation feedback and is especially pronounced in the warming‐sensitive river basins (annual runoff decreases >5%/°C). We also show that the feedback's impact decreases with increasing temperature, which has unresolved implications for streamflow declines in a less‐snow future.

Publisher

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Subject

General Earth and Planetary Sciences,Geophysics

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