Articles | Volume 18, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1959-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1959-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
26 Apr 2024
Research article |
| 26 Apr 2024
| 26 Apr 2024
Snow depth in high-resolution regional climate model simulations over southern Germany – suitable for extremes and impact-related research?
Benjamin Poschlod
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Research Unit Sustainability and Climate Risk, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), Universität Hamburg, 20144 Hamburg, Germany
Anne Sophie Daloz
Center for International Climate Research (CICERO), 0349 Oslo, Norway
Related authors
Michel Bechtold, Benjamin Poschlod, Christian Otto, Jan Volkholz, Matthias Büchner, and Florian Zabel
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 6637–6648, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-6637-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-6637-2026, 2026
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Many climate impacts depend on what happens within a day: heat stress peaks in the afternoon and solar or wind power rise and fall hour by hour. Yet global climate projections are usually published only as daily averages. We converted them into hourly data for global land areas, covering 1850 to 2100 and several future scenarios. The dataset is freely available and lets researchers estimate impacts on health, water and energy far more realistically.
Kai Kornhuber, Emanuele Bevacqua, Mariana Madruga de Brito, Wiebke S. Jäger, Pauline Rivoire, Cassandra D. W. Rogers, Fabiola Banfi, Fulden Batibeniz, James Carruthers, Carlo De Michele, Silvia De Angeli, Cristina Deidda, Marleen C. de Ruiter, Andreas H. Fink, Henrique M. D. Goulart, Katharina Küpfer, Patrick Ludwig, Douglas Maraun, Gabriele Messori, Shruti Nath, Fiachra O'Loughlin, Joaquim G. Pinto, Benjamin Poschlod, Alexandre M. Ramos, Colin Raymond, Andreia F. S. Ribeiro, Deepti Singh, Laura Suarez Gutierrez, Philip J. Ward, and Christopher J. White
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Impacts from extreme weather events may become more severe due to increased likelihood of compounding events under global warming, which challenge present day climate modelling and forecasting capacities. In this perspective we reflect on the usability of compound event research to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world applications.
Benjamin Poschlod, Lukas Brunner, and Jana Sillmann
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS).
Short summary
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Scientists often measure drought by counting the longest run of days without meaningful rain. Comparing high-resolution climate models, radar, and station data across Germany, we found that fine-scale maps show sharp, patchy patterns, because a small shower can break the dry streak in one place but not the next. The high-resolution climate model matches what radar observes, but yearly counts are so sensitive to chance rainfall that they are an unreliable basis for tracking drought.
Jingkun Yang, Benjamin Poschlod, and Felix Ament
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4111, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4111, 2026
Short summary
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Heavy rainfall is becoming more severe, yet common measures capture only its peak strength, not how long it lasts or how wide an area it covers. Using high-resolution climate simulations for Germany, we rank the 200 most extreme events across past, present and future. We found that future events are not only more intense but also last longer and spread over larger areas. This means future rainfall hazards will be more complex, and assessments must consider strength, duration and extent together.
Marc Lennartz, Benjamin Poschlod, and Bruno Merz
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Short summary
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Predicting hourly rainfall extremes under climate change is crucial yet highly uncertain. Using convection-permitting climate model data over Germany, we compare stationary and non-stationary general extreme value (GEV) and simplified metastatistical extreme value (sMEV) methods. We show that the sMEV approach exhibits lower uncertainty across return periods. Moreover, the non-stationary sMEV better captures climate-change-induced changes, though care is needed when projecting future extremes.
Anastasia Vogelbacher, Malte von Szombathely, Marc Lennartz, Benjamin Poschlod, and Jana Sillmann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 2765–2783, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-2765-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-2765-2026, 2026
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In this study we address risk to pluvial floods by following the risk definition of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), developed in co-operation with stakeholders of the city of Hamburg. We identify buildings in urban areas where residents face higher flood risk due to greater social vulnerability, increased exposure, or elevated flood hazard. We present the development and application of a Python-based ArcGIS toolbox for estimating pluvial flood risk at building scale.
Timothy Tiggeloven, Colin Raymond, Marleen C. de Ruiter, Jana Sillmann, Annegret H. Thieken, Sophie L. Buijs, Roxana Ciurean, Emma Cordier, Julia M. Crummy, Lydia Cumiskey, Kelley De Polt, Melanie Duncan, Davide M. Ferrario, Wiebke S. Jäger, Elco E. Koks, Nicole van Maanen, Heather J. Murdock, Jaroslav Mysiak, Sadhana Nirandjan, Benjamin Poschlod, Peter Priesmeier, Nivedita Sairam, Pia-Johanna Schweizer, Tristian R. Stolte, Marie-Luise Zenker, James E. Daniell, Alexander Fekete, Christian M. Geiß, Marc J. C. van den Homberg, Sirkku K. Juhola, Christian Kuhlicke, Karen Lebek, Robert Šakić Trogrlić, Stefan Schneiderbauer, Silvia Torresan, Cees J. van Westen, Judith N. Claassen, Bijan Khazai, Virginia Murray, Julius Schlumberger, and Philip J. Ward
Geosci. Commun., 9, 185–221, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-9-185-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-9-185-2026, 2026
Short summary
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Natural hazards like floods, earthquakes, and landslides are often interconnected which may create bigger problems than when they occur alone. We studied expert discussions from an international conference to understand how scientists and policymakers can better prepare for these multi-hazards and use new technologies to protect its communities while contributing to dialogues about future international agreements beyond the Sendai Framework and supporting global sustainability goals.
Benjamin Poschlod, Laura Sailer, Alexander Sasse, Anastasia Vogelbacher, and Ralf Ludwig
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Europe was hit by severe droughts in recent years resulting in extreme low flow conditions in rivers. Here, we investigate future climate change effects on river droughts in Bavaria. We find increasing severity for the low peak discharge and low flow duration in a warmer climate. This is caused by hotter and drier summers, where the joint occurrence of heat and drought intensifies. Further, we show that conditions in the year before the drought gain more importance in a warmer climate.
Alexander Lee Rischmuller, Benjamin Poschlod, and Jana Sillmann
Adv. Stat. Clim. Meteorol. Oceanogr., 12, 1–19, https://doi.org/10.5194/ascmo-12-1-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/ascmo-12-1-2026, 2026
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Extreme precipitation probability estimation is vital for hazard protection design but has high uncertainty. We tested six statistical models using 2000 years of climate data. Our Bayesian hierarchical duration-dependent Generalized Extreme Value model shows the highest accuracy and robustness for sample sizes between 30 and 100 years, making it highly promising for use with limited observational records.
Natalia Castillo Bautista, Marco Gaetani, Leonard F. Borchert, Benjamin Poschlod, Lukas Brunner, Jana Sillmann, and Mario L. V. Martina
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When hot temperatures and drought occur together (compound events), they can cause harmful impacts on crops and society. Using six decades of climate data, we show that such compound events repeatedly occurred in three breadbaskets of the Northern Hemisphere. These events are linked to atmospheric circulation patterns that favor heat and dryness, which in turn interact to amplify the impact. Our study contributes to understand the drivers of these events to support climate impact assessment.
Florian Zabel, Matthias Knüttel, and Benjamin Poschlod
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CropSuite is a new open-source crop suitability model. It provides a GUI and a wide range of options, including a spatial downscaling of climate data. We apply CropSuite to 48 staple and opportunity crops at a 1 km spatial resolution in Africa. We find that climate variability significantly impacts suitable areas but also affects optimal sowing dates and multiple cropping potential. The results provide valuable information for climate impact assessments, adaptation, and land-use planning.
Florian Zabel and Benjamin Poschlod
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5383–5399, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5383-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5383-2023, 2023
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Today, most climate model data are provided at daily time steps. However, more and more models from different sectors, such as energy, water, agriculture, and health, require climate information at a sub-daily temporal resolution for a more robust and reliable climate impact assessment. Here we describe and validate the Teddy tool, a new model for the temporal disaggregation of daily climate model data for climate impact analysis.
Michel Bechtold, Benjamin Poschlod, Christian Otto, Jan Volkholz, Matthias Büchner, and Florian Zabel
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 6637–6648, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-6637-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-6637-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Many climate impacts depend on what happens within a day: heat stress peaks in the afternoon and solar or wind power rise and fall hour by hour. Yet global climate projections are usually published only as daily averages. We converted them into hourly data for global land areas, covering 1850 to 2100 and several future scenarios. The dataset is freely available and lets researchers estimate impacts on health, water and energy far more realistically.
Kai Kornhuber, Emanuele Bevacqua, Mariana Madruga de Brito, Wiebke S. Jäger, Pauline Rivoire, Cassandra D. W. Rogers, Fabiola Banfi, Fulden Batibeniz, James Carruthers, Carlo De Michele, Silvia De Angeli, Cristina Deidda, Marleen C. de Ruiter, Andreas H. Fink, Henrique M. D. Goulart, Katharina Küpfer, Patrick Ludwig, Douglas Maraun, Gabriele Messori, Shruti Nath, Fiachra O'Loughlin, Joaquim G. Pinto, Benjamin Poschlod, Alexandre M. Ramos, Colin Raymond, Andreia F. S. Ribeiro, Deepti Singh, Laura Suarez Gutierrez, Philip J. Ward, and Christopher J. White
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4309–4334, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-4309-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-4309-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Impacts from extreme weather events may become more severe due to increased likelihood of compounding events under global warming, which challenge present day climate modelling and forecasting capacities. In this perspective we reflect on the usability of compound event research to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world applications.
Benjamin Poschlod, Lukas Brunner, and Jana Sillmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4014, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4014, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS).
Short summary
Short summary
Scientists often measure drought by counting the longest run of days without meaningful rain. Comparing high-resolution climate models, radar, and station data across Germany, we found that fine-scale maps show sharp, patchy patterns, because a small shower can break the dry streak in one place but not the next. The high-resolution climate model matches what radar observes, but yearly counts are so sensitive to chance rainfall that they are an unreliable basis for tracking drought.
Jingkun Yang, Benjamin Poschlod, and Felix Ament
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4111, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4111, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Heavy rainfall is becoming more severe, yet common measures capture only its peak strength, not how long it lasts or how wide an area it covers. Using high-resolution climate simulations for Germany, we rank the 200 most extreme events across past, present and future. We found that future events are not only more intense but also last longer and spread over larger areas. This means future rainfall hazards will be more complex, and assessments must consider strength, duration and extent together.
Marc Lennartz, Benjamin Poschlod, and Bruno Merz
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3273–3289, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-3273-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-3273-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Predicting hourly rainfall extremes under climate change is crucial yet highly uncertain. Using convection-permitting climate model data over Germany, we compare stationary and non-stationary general extreme value (GEV) and simplified metastatistical extreme value (sMEV) methods. We show that the sMEV approach exhibits lower uncertainty across return periods. Moreover, the non-stationary sMEV better captures climate-change-induced changes, though care is needed when projecting future extremes.
Anastasia Vogelbacher, Malte von Szombathely, Marc Lennartz, Benjamin Poschlod, and Jana Sillmann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 2765–2783, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-2765-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-2765-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we address risk to pluvial floods by following the risk definition of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), developed in co-operation with stakeholders of the city of Hamburg. We identify buildings in urban areas where residents face higher flood risk due to greater social vulnerability, increased exposure, or elevated flood hazard. We present the development and application of a Python-based ArcGIS toolbox for estimating pluvial flood risk at building scale.
Timothy Tiggeloven, Colin Raymond, Marleen C. de Ruiter, Jana Sillmann, Annegret H. Thieken, Sophie L. Buijs, Roxana Ciurean, Emma Cordier, Julia M. Crummy, Lydia Cumiskey, Kelley De Polt, Melanie Duncan, Davide M. Ferrario, Wiebke S. Jäger, Elco E. Koks, Nicole van Maanen, Heather J. Murdock, Jaroslav Mysiak, Sadhana Nirandjan, Benjamin Poschlod, Peter Priesmeier, Nivedita Sairam, Pia-Johanna Schweizer, Tristian R. Stolte, Marie-Luise Zenker, James E. Daniell, Alexander Fekete, Christian M. Geiß, Marc J. C. van den Homberg, Sirkku K. Juhola, Christian Kuhlicke, Karen Lebek, Robert Šakić Trogrlić, Stefan Schneiderbauer, Silvia Torresan, Cees J. van Westen, Judith N. Claassen, Bijan Khazai, Virginia Murray, Julius Schlumberger, and Philip J. Ward
Geosci. Commun., 9, 185–221, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-9-185-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-9-185-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Natural hazards like floods, earthquakes, and landslides are often interconnected which may create bigger problems than when they occur alone. We studied expert discussions from an international conference to understand how scientists and policymakers can better prepare for these multi-hazards and use new technologies to protect its communities while contributing to dialogues about future international agreements beyond the Sendai Framework and supporting global sustainability goals.
Philip J. Ward, Sophie L. Buijs, Roxana Ciurean, Judith N. Claassen, James Daniell, Kelley De Polt, Melanie Duncan, Stefania Gottardo, Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler, Robert Šakić Trogrlić, Julius Schlumberger, Timothy Tiggeloven, Silvia Torresan, Nicole van Maanen, Andrew Warren, Carmen D. Álvarez-Albelo, Vanessa Banks, Benjamin Blanz, Veronica Casartelli, Jordan Correa, Julia Crummy, Anne Sophie Daloz, Marleen C. de Ruiter, Juan José Díaz-Hernández, Jaime Díaz-Pacheco, Pedro Dorta Antequera, Davide Ferrario, David Geurts, Sara García-González, Joel C. Gill, Raúl Hernández-Martín, Wiebke S. Jäger, Abel López-Díez, Lin Ma, Jaroslav Mysiak, Diep Ngoc Nguyen, Noemi Padrón Fumero, Eva-Cristina Petrescu, Karina Reiter, Jana Sillmann, Lara Smale, and Tristian Stolte
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1325–1345, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-1325-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-1325-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Disasters often result from interactions between different hazards, like floods triggering landslides, or earthquakes followed by tropical cyclones, so-called multi-hazards. People and societies are increasingly exposed and vulnerable to these multi-hazards. Assessing these aspects is referred to as multi-risk assessment and management. In this paper we synthesise key learnings from the MYRIAD-EU (Multi-hazard and sYstemic framework for enhancing Risk-Informed mAnagement and Decision-making in the E.U.) project, reflecting on progress and challenges faced in addressing multi-hazards and multi-risk.
Benjamin Poschlod, Laura Sailer, Alexander Sasse, Anastasia Vogelbacher, and Ralf Ludwig
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 30, 1165–1188, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-1165-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-1165-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Europe was hit by severe droughts in recent years resulting in extreme low flow conditions in rivers. Here, we investigate future climate change effects on river droughts in Bavaria. We find increasing severity for the low peak discharge and low flow duration in a warmer climate. This is caused by hotter and drier summers, where the joint occurrence of heat and drought intensifies. Further, we show that conditions in the year before the drought gain more importance in a warmer climate.
Alexander Lee Rischmuller, Benjamin Poschlod, and Jana Sillmann
Adv. Stat. Clim. Meteorol. Oceanogr., 12, 1–19, https://doi.org/10.5194/ascmo-12-1-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/ascmo-12-1-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Extreme precipitation probability estimation is vital for hazard protection design but has high uncertainty. We tested six statistical models using 2000 years of climate data. Our Bayesian hierarchical duration-dependent Generalized Extreme Value model shows the highest accuracy and robustness for sample sizes between 30 and 100 years, making it highly promising for use with limited observational records.
Nicole van Maanen, Marleen de Ruiter, Wiebke Jäger, Veronica Casartelli, Roxana Ciurean, Noemi Padrón-Fumero, Anne Sophie Daloz, David Geurts, Stefania Gottardo, Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler, Abel López Diez, Jaime Díaz Pacheco, Pedro Dorta Antequera, Tamara Febles Arévalo, Sara García González, Raúl Hernández-Martín, Carmen Alvarez-Albelo, Juan José Diaz-Hernandez, Lin Ma, Letizia Monteleone, Karina Reiter, Tristian Stolte, Robert Šakić Trogrlić, Silvia Torresan, Sharon Tatman, David Romero Manrique de Lara, Yeray Hernández González, and Philip J. Ward
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 2295–2311, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-2295-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-2295-2025, 2025
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Disaster risk management faces growing challenges from multiple, changing hazards. Interviews with stakeholders in five European regions reveal that climate change, urban growth, and socio-economic shifts increase vulnerability and exposure. Measures to reduce one risk can worsen others, highlighting the need for better coordination. The study calls for flexible, context-specific strategies that connect scientific risk assessments with real-world decision-making.
Gwendoline Ducros, Timothy Tiggeloven, Lin Ma, Anne Sophie Daloz, Nina Schuhen, Judith Claassen, and Marleen C. de Ruiter
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4693–4712, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-4693-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-4693-2025, 2025
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Our study finds that heatwave, drought and wildfire events occurring simultaneously in Scandinavia are pronounced in the summer months; and the heat-drought 2018 event led to a drop in gross domestic product, affecting agriculture and forestry imports, further impacting Europe's trade balance. This research shows the importance of ripple effects of multi-hazard, and that forest management and adaptation measures are vital to reducing the risks of heat-related multi-hazards in vulnerable areas.
Natalia Castillo Bautista, Marco Gaetani, Leonard F. Borchert, Benjamin Poschlod, Lukas Brunner, Jana Sillmann, and Mario L. V. Martina
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5073, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5073, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
When hot temperatures and drought occur together (compound events), they can cause harmful impacts on crops and society. Using six decades of climate data, we show that such compound events repeatedly occurred in three breadbaskets of the Northern Hemisphere. These events are linked to atmospheric circulation patterns that favor heat and dryness, which in turn interact to amplify the impact. Our study contributes to understand the drivers of these events to support climate impact assessment.
Florian Zabel, Matthias Knüttel, and Benjamin Poschlod
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 1067–1087, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1067-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1067-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
CropSuite is a new open-source crop suitability model. It provides a GUI and a wide range of options, including a spatial downscaling of climate data. We apply CropSuite to 48 staple and opportunity crops at a 1 km spatial resolution in Africa. We find that climate variability significantly impacts suitable areas but also affects optimal sowing dates and multiple cropping potential. The results provide valuable information for climate impact assessments, adaptation, and land-use planning.
Franziska Hellmuth, Tim Carlsen, Anne Sophie Daloz, Robert Oscar David, Haochi Che, and Trude Storelvmo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1353–1383, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1353-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1353-2025, 2025
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This article compares the occurrence of supercooled liquid-containing clouds (sLCCs) and their link to surface snowfall in CloudSat–CALIPSO, ERA5, and the CMIP6 models. Significant discrepancies were found, with ERA5 and CMIP6 consistently overestimating sLCC and snowfall frequency. This bias is likely due to cloud microphysics parameterization. This conclusion has implications for accurately representing cloud phase and snowfall in future climate projections.
Clemens Schwingshackl, Anne Sophie Daloz, Carley Iles, Kristin Aunan, and Jana Sillmann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 331–354, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-331-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-331-2024, 2024
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Ambient heat in European cities will substantially increase under global warming, as projected by three heat metrics calculated from high-resolution climate model simulations. While the heat metrics consistently project high levels of ambient heat for several cities, in other cities the projected heat levels vary considerably across the three heat metrics. Using complementary heat metrics for projections of ambient heat is thus important for assessments of future risks from heat stress.
Florian Zabel and Benjamin Poschlod
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5383–5399, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5383-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5383-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Today, most climate model data are provided at daily time steps. However, more and more models from different sectors, such as energy, water, agriculture, and health, require climate information at a sub-daily temporal resolution for a more robust and reliable climate impact assessment. Here we describe and validate the Teddy tool, a new model for the temporal disaggregation of daily climate model data for climate impact analysis.
Anne Sophie Daloz, Clemens Schwingshackl, Priscilla Mooney, Susanna Strada, Diana Rechid, Edouard L. Davin, Eleni Katragkou, Nathalie de Noblet-Ducoudré, Michal Belda, Tomas Halenka, Marcus Breil, Rita M. Cardoso, Peter Hoffmann, Daniela C. A. Lima, Ronny Meier, Pedro M. M. Soares, Giannis Sofiadis, Gustav Strandberg, Merja H. Toelle, and Marianne T. Lund
The Cryosphere, 16, 2403–2419, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2403-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2403-2022, 2022
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Snow plays a major role in the regulation of the Earth's surface temperature. Together with climate change, rising temperatures are already altering snow in many ways. In this context, it is crucial to better understand the ability of climate models to represent snow and snow processes. This work focuses on Europe and shows that the melting season in spring still represents a challenge for climate models and that more work is needed to accurately simulate snow–atmosphere interactions.
Priscilla A. Mooney, Diana Rechid, Edouard L. Davin, Eleni Katragkou, Natalie de Noblet-Ducoudré, Marcus Breil, Rita M. Cardoso, Anne Sophie Daloz, Peter Hoffmann, Daniela C. A. Lima, Ronny Meier, Pedro M. M. Soares, Giannis Sofiadis, Susanna Strada, Gustav Strandberg, Merja H. Toelle, and Marianne T. Lund
The Cryosphere, 16, 1383–1397, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1383-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1383-2022, 2022
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We use multiple regional climate models to show that afforestation in sub-polar and alpine regions reduces the radiative impact of snow albedo on the atmosphere, reduces snow cover, and delays the start of the snowmelt season. This is important for local communities that are highly reliant on snowpack for water resources and winter tourism. However, models disagree on the amount of change particularly when snow is melting. This shows that more research is needed on snow–vegetation interactions.
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Short summary
Information about snow depth is important within climate research but also many other sectors, such as tourism, mobility, civil engineering, and ecology. Climate models often feature a spatial resolution which is too coarse to investigate snow depth. Here, we analyse high-resolution simulations and identify added value compared to a coarser-resolution state-of-the-art product. Also, daily snow depth extremes are well reproduced by two models.
Information about snow depth is important within climate research but also many other sectors,...
