Impact of climate and elevation on snow cover using integrated remote sensing snow products in Tibetan Plateau

Climate change is rapidly altering snow cover conditions in seasonal snow-covered regions of the Tibetan Plateau. This study presents a systematic analysis of the changes in snow cover and its response to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau during the period 2001-2014 using MODIS daily snow cover products under cloud free conditions and AMSR-E SSM/I daily SWE products. The results indicated that 1) the snow-covered area (SCA) tended to increase at elevations below 2000 m.a.s.l., whereas it decreased at elevations above 2000 m.a.s.l. The SCA exhibited a mean decrease over the entire plateau. 2) The SCD and SWE tended to decrease on the Tibetan Plateau, particularly at high elevations. 3) Decreased snowfall and increased rainfall and temperature are the main reasons for the SCD and SWE decrease over the Tibetan Plateau during the period 2001-2014. 4) Snowfall had a positive feedback effect, whereas rainfall and temperature both had negative feedback effects on the attenuation of snow cover. 5) With increasing elevation, the positive feedback of snowfall on snow cover increased significantly, whereas the negative feedback effect of rainfall and temperature also increased.