Quantitative determination of environmental factors governing the snow melting: a geodetector case study in the central Tienshan Mountains

Abstract

Because of the distinctive vertical climate and topography gradients in the alpine region, the snow cover of the Tienshan Mountains possesses complex spatiotemporal heterogeneity, particularly during the melting process. Quantifying the environmental factors is therefore crucial to understanding the melting process and for predicting and managing snowmelt runoff. Herein, the snow cover area, grain size, and contamination extent were determined to characterize the detailed melting status based on surface reflectance data of MOD09A1 in the central Tienshan Mountains from 2013 to 2017. The environmental factors collected include relief (elevation, slope, and aspect); meteorology (surface air temperature, land surface temperature, solar radiation, and wind speed); and land surface vegetation. Analysis of the geodetector results indicated the following. (1) Patterns of changes in the overall dominant environmental variables were consistent for the pre-, mid-, and post-melting periods defined according to the decline of snow cover area over five years. (2) The overall major environmental factors were wind speed and radiation (pre-period), land surface temperature and elevation (mid-period), and elevation and land surface types (post-period), respectively. (3) Regional distinctions were detected of the dominant environmental factors. In the pre-melting period, the effects of solar radiation and wind speed were noticeable in the north and south regions, respectively. The effects of elevation, land surface temperature, and land cover types became more prominent in all regions during the mid- and post-melting periods. (4) Interaction between the major environmental factors was significantly enhanced on both the overall and regional scales, thus affecting the snow-melting process. Finally, the energy distribution mismatch resulted in the snowmelt. Multiple environmental factors substantially affect heat redistribution at different spatiotemporal scales, resulting in the snowmelt as a complex manifestation of the factors and their interactions. The findings highlight regional differences in various environmental factors of the melting process and offer a theoretical foundation for the melting process at various scales over multiple years.

A Multifactor Eigenvector Spatial Filtering-Based Method for Resolution-Enhanced Snow Water Equivalent Estimation in the Western United States

“…Because, in the ablation period, the seasonal shallow snow tends to melt, and most of the perpetual snow concentrates on high-elevation areas with high slopes, showing a high interaction, which can also be inferred in Appendix A, where the two factors show a high correlation coefficient (about 0.5). Previous studies have also reported that elevation and slope had high interactions with other factors, such as wind speed [64].…”

“…As a premise for discussion, we divided DJF into two stages: the accumulation period (December and January) and the ablation period (February), according to the study of Li et al [64], because the statistics show that the snow cover fraction value generally increases from December to January and starts to decrease in February, with mean values of 0.51, 0.63, and 0.59 for the respective months. Figure 7 shows the box plot of daily mean SCF values for each month.…”

Investigating the Spatial, Proximity, and Multiscale Effects of Influencing Factors in the Snowmelt Process in the Manas River Basin Using a Novel Zonal Spatial Panel Model

“…The strong correlation between these factors and heat distribution, a key driver of snow recession, may explain their significance. For example, elevation has vertical temperature gradients, whereas LST and TEMP represent heat distribution [8]. Additionally, NDVI in high-altitude mountainous areas exhibits significant vertical patterns [17,18].…”

“…Environmental factors, including elevation, temperature, radiation, humidity, wind speed, and others, have variable impacts on snow melting across diverse spatiotemporal scales [5][6][7]. It is crucial to explore these impact factors to understand the snowmelt mechanism [8]. Additionally, this helps to gauge the influence of climate change on snowmelt events, predict the probability of future snowmelt events, and assess their potential impacts on water resources and natural hazards.…”

Dynamic Snow Melting Process and Its Driving Factors in Northern Grasslands

“…Furthermore, the interaction of energy on the snow surface is critical for snowmelt [18], with the sublimation of snow caused by solar radiation and the accumulation of dry snow by strong winds being areas of research worth attention [19]. Solar radiation influences the snow melting process by altering the heat flux of the snow layer [20].…”