Scientists study the impact of climate change on snowpack. In the recent findings from NASA, the snowpack levels in Sierra Nevada mountains range in California is much bigger than four years combined.
However, according to the international team of scientists, there is 20 percent of loss in the Western United States mountain in the last three decades as reported by Phys.org. The snowpack, which contained the annual maximum amount of water has decreased due to human influences.
The observation from the research team showed a consistent result in the correlation between the combined changes in natural factors and human influences to the snowpack loss from the 1980's to 2000's. The natural factors that affect the loss including solar irradiance and volcanic aerosols. While human influences are greenhouse gasses, aerosols, ozone and land use.
At the current rate, the scientists predicted that within the next 30 years, there will be more loss of up to 60 percent of the snowpack. The team observed the phenomenon, analyze the land surface and create a model for climate simulations to characterize the combined influences of the variable in the reduced of the snowpack level.
The team is led by a senior research scientist at the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis of Environment and Climate Change Canada, John Fyfe. Following the research, the team has published its result in the Nature Communication journal in this April edition.
However, new data from NASA shows a complete opposite of the result. Based on the measurement on April 1 from its Airborne Snow Observatory, NASA has found the snowpack levels in Tuolumne Basin snowpack has doubled its volume from last year. The current volume is at 1.2 million acre-feet, as reported by CNBC, which also 21 times larger than the 2015 levels.
The snowpack levels in 2015 is the lowest on record of in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Watch the report regarding the impact of climate change to snowpack in California below:
