This award is part of the Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Program, a U.S. Global Change Program. This research will use climatological and sounding data, as well as a radiative transfer model to examine the energy transfer from the atmosphere to the snow surface, which in turn will lead to better parameterization of the process of spring snow line retreat. The project will utilize two approaches; the first involves expanding the study of roughly 40 years of historical weather data, including snow depths, precipitations, surface temperatures, and atmospheric soundings, at four Alaska stations. The second involves using a state-of-the-art radiative transfer model to examine the theoretical effects of changing cloud cover, and relative humidity on the actual transfer of energy from the atmosphere to melt snow. These results will be used together to simulate snow melt in atmospheric models.
