Evaluation of snow depth and snow cover over the Tibetan Plateau in global reanalyses using in situ and satellite remote sensing observations

• Published in: The cryosphere 2019-08, Vol.13 (8), p.2221-2239
• Main Authors: Orsolini, Yvan, Wegmann, Martin, Dutra, Emanuel, Liu, Boqi, Balsamo, Gianpaolo, Yang, Kun, de Rosnay, Patricia, Zhu, Congwen, Wang, Wenli, Senan, Retish, Arduini, Gabriele
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Artificial satellites in remote sensing; Confidence; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Depth; Environmental aspects; Global climate; Headwaters; High altitude; Ice mapping; In situ measurement; Information systems; Mathematical models; Observations; Plateaus; Precipitation; Regional climates; Remote sensing; Rivers; Satellite observation; Satellites; Seasonal forecasting; Sensitivity analysis; Snow; Snow accumulation; Snow and ice; Snow cover; Snow depth; Snowfall; Snowpack; Sublimation; Water resources; Weather forecasting
• ISSN: 1994-0424; 1994-0416; 1994-0424; 1994-0416
• DOI: 10.5194/tc-13-2221-2019

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) region, often referred to as the Third Pole, is the world's highest plateau and exerts a considerable influence on regional and global climate. The state of the snowpack over the TP is a major research focus due to its great impact on the headwaters of a dozen major Asian rivers. While many studies have attempted to validate atmospheric reanalyses over the TP area in terms of temperature or precipitation, there have been - remarkably - no studies aimed at systematically comparing the snow depth or snow cover in global reanalyses with satellite and in situ data. Yet, snow in reanalyses provides critical surface information for forecast systems from the medium to sub-seasonal timescales.