On the Interdecadal Change in the Interannual Variation in Autumn Snow Cover Over the Central Eastern Tibetan Plateau in the Mid‐1990s

Abstract

Abstract The interdecadal changes in the mechanisms accounting for the interannual variation in autumn snow cover over the central eastern Tibetan Plateau (TP) are investigated in this study. An autumn snow index is constructed by area averaging the snow cover over the central eastern TP. The snow index changed from a predominantly negative phase to a positive phase in 1995. Then, the data were divided into two subperiods, 1979–1994 (P1) and 1995–2017 (P2), and the differences in the mechanisms accounting for the variation in autumn snow cover were compared between P1 and P2. An analysis of the local process shows that the autumn snow cover variations over the central eastern TP are caused by snowfall from both autumn and late summer. The autumn snow cover variation over the central eastern TP imposed more significant atmospheric cooling effects during P1 than P2. During P2, except for the local process, the interannual variation in autumn snow cover in the central eastern TP is also affected by atmospheric circulation anomalies originating from the upstream North Atlantic Ocean. During P2, snow‐related North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (SSTA) can induce a wave train‐like atmospheric pattern that propagates eastward across the Eurasian continent and reaches the TP. Further analysis shows that this wave train‐like atmospheric pattern over the midlatitude Eurasian continent mainly obtains energy from climatological mean flow through baroclinic energy conversion. In contrast, during P1, the North Atlantic SSTA‐related atmospheric circulation pattern tends to propagate northeastward and cannot contribute to the variation in autumn snow cover over the central eastern TP.