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Observed Spatiotemporal Changes in the Mechanisms of Extreme Water Available for Runoff in the Western United States

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080260· OSTI ID:1496586
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
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We used a quality-controlled Snowpack Telemetry (SNOTEL) data set (1979–2017) combined with the nonparametric regional Kendall test (RKT) to examine changes in annual maximum water available for runoff at the land surface under four hydrometeorological conditions (snowmelt only, rain-on-snow, all melt with or without rainfall, and all melt plus rainfall on snow-free ground) over the mountainous regions of the western U.S. Our RKT analyses indicated significant declining trends at point (SNOTEL) scale under all four conditions. The annual maximum of all melt plus rainfall decreased primarily in the southwestern U.S., while the frequency of rain-on-snow events increased significantly in the northwestern U.S. The rate of annual maximum snowmelt only decreased in 10 of 11 ecological regions across the western U.S. These results suggest that under a warming climate, the four types of annual maximum water available for runoff have been substantially decreasing at local scale across the western U.S.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1496586
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1491956
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA--138215
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 46; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (4)

Evaluating next‐generation intensity–duration–frequency curves for design flood estimates in the snow‐dominated western United States journal December 2019
Regional Snow Parameters Estimation for Large‐Domain Hydrological Applications in the Western United States journal May 2019
The Role of Rain‐on‐Snow in Flooding Over the Conterminous United States journal November 2019
Flood Size Increases Nonlinearly Across the Western United States in Response to Lower Snow‐Precipitation Ratios journal January 2020

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