Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.5
3.4
Journals
Water
Special Issues
Climate Variability Impact on the Snowfall Regime in the Mediterranean...
share announcement

Climate Variability Impact on the Snowfall Regime in the Mediterranean Area and Semi-Arid Regions

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 13001

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. María-José Polo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University of Cordoba, Hydraulic Engineering, Campus de Rabanales, Cordoba, Spain
Interests: mountain hydrology; snow dynamics; Mediterranean basins’ modelling; remote sensing; ecohydrology
Dr. Juan Ignacio López Moreno

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, Campus de Aula Dei, Avda. Montañana, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain
Interests: snow hydrology; climatic change; water resources management; recent evolution of the Pyrenean Glaciers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Simon Gascoin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CESBIO, CNRS, Toulouse, France
Interests: snow hydrology; remote sensing; glaciology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Rafael Pimentel

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University of Cordoba, Hydraulic Engineering, Campus de Rabanales, Cordoba, Spain
Interests: snow dynamics and water resources in semiarid areas; hydrological modelling and uncertainty analysis; remote sensing observations; data assimilation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate variability and global warming trends have a major impact on the hydrological regime and water resource availability all over the world. The effects on the snowfall regime are expected to be determinant in driving impacts on the hydrology of mountainous areas, especially in the Mediterranean area and other semi-arid regions in the world. The non-linear processes underlying the occurrence and persistence of snowfall together with the lack of long-term series in the snow domains pose a challenge for scientists to monitor the snowfall regime, identify the major drivers of change, and address the expected trends in the mid- and long-term future.

We welcome innovative and outstanding contributions from these areas to this Special Issue, which focuses on the following issues: partitioning precipitation into rain-and snowfall; measuring snowfall in remote areas; snowfall forecasting and nowcasting; downscaling climate variables in mountain areas to estimate snowfall descriptors; snowfall torrentiality, persistence, and drought; assimilation of remote sensing data into snow models; observed trends of the snowfall regime; future climate scenario projections of snowfall occurrence, amount, and persistence; and hydrological impacts of the changes of the snowfall regime. Conceptual, methodological, and applied research works are included for the topic, and multidisciplinary approaches are encouraged.

Prof. Dr. María-José Polo
Dr. José-Ignacio López-Moreno
Dr. Simon Gascoin
Dr. Rafael Pimentel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • snowfall
  • observed trends
  • Mediterranean and semi-arid areas
  • forecast
  • torrentiality and drought
  • climate change

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

17 pages, 3272 KiB  
Article
Seasonal Variability of Snow Density in the Spanish Pyrenees
by Eduardo Lastrada, Guillermo Cobos, Julio Garzón-Roca and F. Javier Torrijo
Water 2021, 13(11), 1598; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13111598 - 07 Jun 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2723
Abstract
Spanish latitudes and meteorological conditions cause the snow phenomena to mainly take place in mountainous areas, playing a key role in water resource management, with the Pyrenees as one of the most important and best monitored areas. Based on the most significant dataset [...] Read more.
Spanish latitudes and meteorological conditions cause the snow phenomena to mainly take place in mountainous areas, playing a key role in water resource management, with the Pyrenees as one of the most important and best monitored areas. Based on the most significant dataset of snow density (SDEN) in the Spanish Pyrenees for on-site manual samples and automatic measurements, in this study, single and multiple linear regression models are evaluated that relate SDEN with intra-annual time dependence and other drivers such as the seasonal accumulated precipitation, 7-day average temperatures, snow depth (SD) and elevation. The seasonal accumulated precipitation presented a more dominant influence than daily precipitation, usually being the second most dominant SDEN driver, followed by temperature. Average temperatures showed the best fitting to SDEN. The results showed similar densification rates ranging widely from 0.7 × 103 kg/L/day to 2 × 103 kg/L/day without showing a spatial pattern. The densification rate for the set of manual samples was set to 1.2 kg/L/day, very similar to the set of automatic measurements (1.3 kg/L/day). The results increase knowledge on SDEN in the Pyrenees. The SDEN regression models that are given in this work may allow us, in the future, to estimate SDEN, and consequently Snow Water Equivalent (SWE), using an economical and extensive SD and meteorological network, although the high spatial variability that has been found must be regarded. Estimating a relationship between SDEN and several climate drivers enables us to take into account the impact of climate variability on SDEN. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Variability Impact on the Snowfall Regime in the Mediterranean Area and Semi-Arid Regions)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 6520 KiB  
Article
A Decrease in the Regulatory Effect of Snow-Related Phenomena in Spanish Mountain Areas Due to Climate Change
by Eduardo Lastrada, Julio Garzón-Roca, Guillermo Cobos and Francisco Javier Torrijo
Water 2021, 13(11), 1550; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13111550 - 31 May 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2289
Abstract
Climate change undoubtedly will affect snow events as temperature and precipitation are expected to change in the future. Spanish mountains are especially affected by that situation, since snow storage is there focussed on very specific periods of the hydrological year and plays a [...] Read more.
Climate change undoubtedly will affect snow events as temperature and precipitation are expected to change in the future. Spanish mountains are especially affected by that situation, since snow storage is there focussed on very specific periods of the hydrological year and plays a very important role in the management of water resources. In this study, an analysis of the behaviour of the complex snow-related phenomena in the four main mountain regions of Spain in the next 50 years is conducted. The ASTER hydrological model is applied using temperature and precipitation data as basic input, estimated under a climate change scenario. Results show different changes in the maximum and average expected flows, depending on the very different magnitude and sign of changes in precipitation. An increase of flooding episodes may occur as a result of a complex relation between changes in precipitation and an increase in maximum snowmelt intensities that range from 2.1% in the Pyrenees to 7.4% in the Cantabrian Mountains. However, common patterns are shown in a shorter duration of the snow bulk reserves, expected to occur 45 days earlier for the Cantabrian Mountains, and about 30 days for the rest of the studied mountain regions. Changes observed also lead to a concerning decrease in the regulatory effect of the snow-related phenomena in the Spanish rivers, with a decrease in the average snow accumulation that ranges from about 28% for the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada to 42% for the Central System and the Cantabrian Mountains. A decrease in average flow is expected, fluctuating from 2.4% in the Pyrenees to 7.3% in Cantabrian Mountains, only increasing in the Central System by 4.0%, making all necessary to develop new adaptation measures to climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Variability Impact on the Snowfall Regime in the Mediterranean Area and Semi-Arid Regions)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 2565 KiB  
Article
Impact of North Atlantic Oscillation on the Snowpack in Iberian Peninsula Mountains
by Esteban Alonso-González, Juan I. López-Moreno, Francisco M. Navarro-Serrano and Jesús Revuelto
Water 2020, 12(1), 105; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w12010105 - 28 Dec 2019
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3300
Abstract
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is considered to be the main atmospheric factor explaining the winter climate and snow evolution over much of the Northern Hemisphere. However, the absence of long-term snow data in mountain regions has prevented full assessment of the impact [...] Read more.
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is considered to be the main atmospheric factor explaining the winter climate and snow evolution over much of the Northern Hemisphere. However, the absence of long-term snow data in mountain regions has prevented full assessment of the impact of the NAO at the regional scales, where data are limited. In this study, we assessed the relationship between the NAO of the winter months (DJFM-NAO) and the snowpack of the Iberian Peninsula. We simulated temperature, precipitation, and snow data for the period 1979–2014 by dynamic downscaling of ERA-Interim reanalysis data, and correlated this with the DJFM-NAO for the five main mountain ranges of the Iberian Peninsula (Cantabrian Range, Central Range, Iberian Range, the Pyrenees, and the Sierra Nevada). The results confirmed that negative DJFM-NAO values generally occur during wet and mild conditions over most of the Iberian Peninsula. Due to the direction of the wet air masses, the NAO has a large influence on snow duration and the annual peak snow water equivalent (peak SWE) in most of the mountain ranges in the study, mostly on the slopes south of the main axis of the ranges. In contrast, the impact of NAO variability is limited on north-facing slopes. Negative (positive) DJFM-NAO values were associated with longer (shorter) duration and higher (lower) peak SWEs in all mountains analyzed in the study. We found marked variability in correlations of the DJFM-NAO with snow indices within each mountain range, even when only the south-facing slopes were considered. The correlations were stronger for higher elevations in the mountain ranges, but geographical longitude also explained the intra-range variability in the majority of the studied mountains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Variability Impact on the Snowfall Regime in the Mediterranean Area and Semi-Arid Regions)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 3612 KiB  
Article
Hydro-Meteorological Characterization of Major Floods in Spanish Mountain Rivers
by Enrique Morán-Tejeda, Steven R. Fassnacht, Jorge Lorenzo-Lacruz, Juan Ignacio López-Moreno, Celso García, Esteban Alonso-González and Antonio-Juan Collados-Lara
Water 2019, 11(12), 2641; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w11122641 - 14 Dec 2019
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3661
Abstract
Spain, one of the most mountainous countries in Europe, suffers from frequent river flooding due to specific climatic and topographic features. Many headwaters of the largest rivers in Spain are located in mountainous areas of mid-to-high elevation. These include the Pyrenees, the Central [...] Read more.
Spain, one of the most mountainous countries in Europe, suffers from frequent river flooding due to specific climatic and topographic features. Many headwaters of the largest rivers in Spain are located in mountainous areas of mid-to-high elevation. These include the Pyrenees, the Central System, and the Cantabrian mountains, that have a sustained snowpack during the winter months. Most previous research on flood generation in Spain has focused on intense rainfall events, and the role of snowmelt has been ignored or considered marginal. In this paper we present a regional-scale study to quantify the relative importance of rainfall versus snowmelt in the largest floods recorded in mountain rivers in Spain during the last decades (1980–2014). We further analyzed whether catchments characteristics and weather types may favor the occurrence of rainfall or snowmelt induced floods. Results show that in 53% of the 250 analyzed floods the contribution of rainfall was larger than 90%, and in the rest of events snowmelt contribution was larger than 10%. Floods where snowmelt was the main contributor represented only 5% of the total events. The average contribution of snowmelt represents 18% of total runoff in floods that were analyzed. The role of snowmelt in floods, rather than triggering the event, was usually amplifying the duration of the event, especially after the peak flow was reached. In general, the importance of snowmelt in floods is greater in catchments with characteristics that favor snow accumulation. However, this does not apply to floods where contribution of snowmelt was larger than 90%, which tend to occur at catchments at mid-elevations that accumulate unusual amounts of snow that melt rapidly. Floods were more frequent under both cyclonic and anticyclonic synoptic situations over the Iberian Peninsula, as well as under advection of western and eastern flows. Our results contribute to the ongoing improvement of knowledge about the role of snow in the hydrology of Spanish rivers and on the importance of mountain processes on the hydrology of downstream areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Variability Impact on the Snowfall Regime in the Mediterranean Area and Semi-Arid Regions)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4
Back to TopTop