Spatiotemporal variability of snowfall and its concentration in northern Xinjiang, Northwest China

• Published in: Theoretical and applied climatology Vol. 139; no. 3-4; pp. 1247 - 1259
• Main Authors: Yang, Tao, Li, Qian, Liu, Wenjiang, Liu, Xiang, Li, Lanhai, De Maeyer, Philippe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.02.2020; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Atmospheric Sciences; Climate change; Climate science; Climatology; Critical temperature; Daily precipitation; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Emergency preparedness; Global warming; Hydrology; Management; Mountains; Original Paper; Precipitation variability; Resource management; Snow; Snowfall; Stations; Temperature; Temperature rise; Temporal variability; Temporal variations; Valleys; Waste Water Technology; Water; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water resources; Water resources management; China
• ISSN: 0177-798X; 1434-4483
• DOI: 10.1007/s00704-019-02994-7

This study investigated the spatial and temporal variability of snowfall and its concentration across northern Xinjiang, Northwest China based on the corrected dataset (derived from 26 stations) using a wet-bulb temperature method during the snowfall hydrological years from 1961 to 2017. The snowfall concentration was analyzed by means of three indices: the snowfall concentration index (CI), snowfall concentration degree (SCD), and snowfall concentration period (SCP). The results demonstrated that the snowfall and temperature increased by 5.69 mm and 0.35 °C per decade, respectively, in northern Xinjiang during the time period from 1961 to 2017. Maximum snowfall occurred at a critical temperature ranging from − 2 to 1 °C. The increased snowfall mainly took place in northern Xinjiang during winter. The distribution of the high snowfall CI value indicated that the daily snowfall showed a high irregularity in the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains and the northern Altay Mountains, in which more than 77% snowfall was contributed by the 25% snowfall days in a year. The results of SCP revealed that the snowfall concentrated in northern Xinjiang during December, with an earlier arrival in the north and east of northern Xinjiang than in the western part. The SCD results proved that the monthly snowfall was more concentrated in the northern Altay Mountains, Ili Valley, and Boertala Valley than over the eastern part of northern Xinjiang during a year. The snowfall in almost all stations increased in concentration throughout the year. The obtained study results could provide scientific reference for future water resource management and snow disaster prevention under a warming climate.