D SINGH
Articles written in Journal of Earth System Science
Volume 130 All articles Published: 4 May 2021 Article ID 0080 Research Article
Snow/ice cover is an integral part of the Earth’s climate system. Earth’s snow/ice cover helps regulate the energy exchange between the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere, directly regulating the surface (and near-surface) temperatures. This study utilizes measurements from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MCD43C3 dataset to derive the albedo and snow cover variation over the past two decades (2001–2020). The snow cover and the albedo vary with local seasonal variation. The global and the southern hemisphere albedo drops by about 17.4% and 26.9%, respectively, during 2017–2020. However, the northern hemisphere albedo drops by about 10.3% from 2017 to 2019 and then increases by about 14.2% in 2020. For non-glaciated regions, the albedo drops from 2017 to 2019 is maximum during JJA (23.5%), followed by SON (19.2%), DJF (12.7%), and MAM (7.1%) months averages. The non-glaciated albedo in the southern hemisphere falls (2016 onwards) by about 40.6%, 47.5%, 55.8%, 30.8% for DJF, MAM, JJA, and SON month averages, respectively. Since the snow cover variation is minimal in the past two decades, an increase in the Northern Hemisphere’s albedo in 2020 indicates a relatively fresher snow presence on the surface compared to previous years.
Volume 131, 2022
All articles
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