Abstract
Snow is the most reflective, and also the most insulative, natural material on Earth. Consequently, it is an integral part of the sea-ice and climate systems. However, the spatial and temporal heterogeneities of snow pose challenges for observing, understanding and modelling those systems under anthropogenic warming. Here, we survey the snow–ice system, then provide recommendations for overcoming present challenges. These include: collecting process-oriented observations for model diagnostics and understanding snow–ice feedbacks, and improving our remote sensing capabilities of snow for monitoring large-scale changes in snow on sea ice. These efforts could be achieved through stronger coordination between the observational, remote sensing and modelling communities, and would pay dividends through distinct improvements in predictions of polar environments.
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Data availability
The N-ICE2015 snow data101 are available via the Norwegian Polar Institute at https://go.nature.com/2OBliCi. The climatological snow data are available at https://doi.org/10.7265/N5MS3QNJ. The ice mass balance buoy data102 are available at: http://imb-crrel-dartmouth.org. The ERA-Interim data103 used for Fig. 2 are available at https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.828. The in situ data shown in Fig. 3a were provided by the SCAR Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCt) programme (http://aspect.antarctica.gov.au). The Operation IceBridge snow radar data104 are available at https://doi.org/10.5067/FAZTWP500V70.
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Acknowledgements
M.S. was funded by the NASA Terrestrial Hydrology Program. R.M. was supported by the Australian Antarctic Division and the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Programme through the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre. M.H. was supported by the National Science Foundation. D.P. and M.W. were funded by the NASA Cryospheric Sciences Program. O.L. was supported by the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique and the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 projects APPLICATE (GA 727862) and PRIMAVERA (GA 641727). S.G. was supported by the project ID Arctic, funded by the Norwegian Ministries for Foreign Affairs and Climate and Environment (programme Arktis 2030). E.C.H. was supported by the Earth system modelling programme of the Department of Energy’s Biological and Environmental Research Program. R.K. was supported by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under contract with NASA. We thank the following investigators for the 2000–2017 spring snow depth data shown in Fig. 2a: C. Polashenski, N. Wright, G. Liston and C. Planck from the project Snow, Wind, and Time: Understanding Snow Redistribution and its Effects on Sea Ice Mass Balance (NSF Award Number: 1603361); B. Notenboom on behalf of the 2-Degree North Pole Expedition; the Norwegian Polar Institute’s long-term Arctic sea ice monitoring programme and the Norwegian Young Sea Ice Cruise (N-ICE2015); B. Ousland (and T. Ulrich in 2007) from Arctic traverses in 2001 and 2007, and A. Hubert and D. Dansercoer from the ESA-sponsored Arctic Arc expedition in 2007.
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M.W. carried out the data synthesis and led the writing. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the results and writing, each contributing to multiple aspects of the manuscript and its ideas. M.S. created Fig. 1. S.G. and D.P. provided in situ and buoy snow data in Fig. 2. R.K. provided snow depths derived from NASA’s Operation IceBridge snow radar data for Figs. 2 and 3, and the ERA-Interim reconstructed snow depths in Fig. 2.
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Webster, M., Gerland, S., Holland, M. et al. Snow in the changing sea-ice systems. Nature Clim Change 8, 946–953 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0286-7
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