HR: 0800h
AN: C31A-0275 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: The Sierra Nevada Snowpack: Do the Snow Course Data Show Historical Trends?
AU: * Dozier, J
EM: dozier@bren.ucsb.edu
AF: University of California, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5131 United States
AB: Among the postulated consequences of global warming, the hypothesis that the Sierra Nevada snowpack may decline is worrisome because of the dependence of the California economy on snowmelt runoff. Some Sierra Nevada snow courses have data records extending back to 1910, and about 100 of the courses have more than 70 years of data. A simplistic analysis shows little other than the obvious interannual variability, but a closer look reveals a declining April snowpack at the lower elevations, especially in the southern parts of the range. The low-elevation deficit is apparently not compensated by more snow at higher elevations.
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (1827)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting