How will a warming world affect Alaska?

Changing precipitation will affect glaciers such as Lamplugh Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. Credit: Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons

In a warming world, identifying snow and rainfall changes in locations around the world is a crucial effort due to the hydrological implications of such changes in addition to the surface albedo impacts. One such location is the last frontier, the state of Alaska. Although topography complicates the pattern of these changes in Alaska, the amplified warming and general increase in precipitation are already apparent in observational data. This begs the question, how will precipitation change with future warming? Snow is a high-impact environmental variable, with effects on transportation, infrastructure (e.g., snow loads on buildings), water supplies, vegetation, and air temperature.With snow cover having a profound effect on the economy and ecosystem, changes in snow cover are societally significant.

In a new Atmospheres article, authors Siiri Bigalke and John E. Walsh, use a high-resolution model to simulate changes in snow with global warming levels of 1.5 °C, 2.0 °C and 3.0 °C. 

Read more at the link below.