Mar 16, 2018 05:38 PM
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/03/n...ly-thought
EXCERPT: Snowboarders, rejoice! North America gets a lot more snow than previously presumed—so much that each year if spread evenly across the continent, it would add up to about 19 centimeters. And if piled up only in Ohio, the snow would be a whopping 45 meters deep (about the height of the Statue of Liberty, sans its pedestal).
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.10...76664/full
Abstract: Despite the importance of mountain snowpack to understanding the water and energy cycles in North America's montane regions, no reliable mountain snow climatology exists for the entire continent. We present a new estimate of mountain snow water equivalent (SWE) for North America from regional climate model simulations. Climatological peak SWE in North America mountains is 1,006 km3, 2.94 times larger than previous estimates from reanalyses. By combining this mountain SWE value with the best available global product in nonmountain areas, we estimate peak North America SWE of 1,684 km3, 55% greater than previous estimates. In our simulations, the date of maximum SWE varies widely by mountain range, from early March to mid-April. Though mountains comprise 24% of the continent's land area, we estimate that they contain ~60% of North American SWE. This new estimate is a suitable benchmark for continental- and global-scale water and energy budget studies.
EXCERPT: Snowboarders, rejoice! North America gets a lot more snow than previously presumed—so much that each year if spread evenly across the continent, it would add up to about 19 centimeters. And if piled up only in Ohio, the snow would be a whopping 45 meters deep (about the height of the Statue of Liberty, sans its pedestal).
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.10...76664/full
Abstract: Despite the importance of mountain snowpack to understanding the water and energy cycles in North America's montane regions, no reliable mountain snow climatology exists for the entire continent. We present a new estimate of mountain snow water equivalent (SWE) for North America from regional climate model simulations. Climatological peak SWE in North America mountains is 1,006 km3, 2.94 times larger than previous estimates from reanalyses. By combining this mountain SWE value with the best available global product in nonmountain areas, we estimate peak North America SWE of 1,684 km3, 55% greater than previous estimates. In our simulations, the date of maximum SWE varies widely by mountain range, from early March to mid-April. Though mountains comprise 24% of the continent's land area, we estimate that they contain ~60% of North American SWE. This new estimate is a suitable benchmark for continental- and global-scale water and energy budget studies.