Mid-summer snow-free albedo across the Arctic tundra was mostly stable or increased over the past two decades

Bibliographic Data

ID15546196
AuthorsElena Plekhanova (0000-0002-5727-9175, University of Zurich, corresponding author), Jin‐Soo Kim (0000-0003-0631-2294, City University of Hong Kong), Jacqueline Oehri (0000-0002-2981-9402, McGill University), Angela Erb (0000-0002-7987-0898, University of Massachusetts Boston), Crystal Schaaf (0000-0002-9150-2975, University of Massachusetts Boston), Gabriela Schaepman‐Strub (0000-0002-4069-1884, University of Zurich)
Year2022
Volume17
Issue12
Pages124026-124026
Publication date2022-11-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironmental Research Letters (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326
PublisherIOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1088/1748-9326/aca5a1
OpenAlexW4309919924
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited48

Arctic vegetation changes, such as increasing shrub-cover, are expected to accelerate climate warming through increased absorption of incoming radiation and corresponding decrease in summer shortwave albedo. Here we analyze mid-summer shortwave land-surface albedo and its change across the pan-Arctic region based on MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite observations over the past two decades (2000–2021). In contrast to expectations, we show that terrestrial mid-summer shortwave albedo has not significantly changed in 82% of the pan-Arctic region, while 14% show an increase and 4% a decrease. The total median significant change was 0.014 over the past 22 years. By analyzing the visible and near-/shortwave-infrared range separately, we demonstrate that the slight increase arises from an albedo increase in the near-/shortwave infrared domain while being partly compensated by a decrease in visible albedo. A similar response was found across different tundra vegetation types. We argue that this increase in reflectance is typical with increasing biomass as a result of increased multiple reflection in the canopy. However, CMIP6 global land surface model albedo predictions showed the opposite sign and different spatial patterns of snow-free summer albedo change compared to satellite-derived results. We suggest that a more sophisticated vegetation parametrization might reduce this discrepancy, and provide albedo estimates per vegetation type

Albedo (alchemy · Arctic · Atmospheric sciences · Climatology · Cryosphere · Geography · Ice-albedo feedback · Meteorology · Moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer · Radiative transfer · Satellite · Sea ice · Shortwave · Shortwave radiation · Snow · Tundra · Vegetation (pathology · Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics · Climate change and permafrost · Cryospheric studies and observations · Environmental Science · Geology · Oceanography · Radiation