Purpose of Review

Highlight significant developments that have recently been made to enhance our understanding of how snow responds to climate forcing and the role that snow plays in the climate system.

Recent Findings

Widespread snow loss has occurred in recent decades, with the largest decreases in spring. These changes are primarily driven by temperature and precipitation, but changes in vegetation, light-absorbing impurities, and sea ice also contribute to variability. Changes in snow cover can also affect climate through the snow albedo feedback (SAF). Recently, considerable progress has been made in better understanding the processes contributing to SAF. We also highlight advances in knowledge of how snow variability is linked to large-scale atmospheric changes. Lastly, large-scale snow losses are expected to continue under climate change in all but the coldest climates. These projected changes to snow raise considerable concerns over future freshwater availability in snow-dominated watersheds.

Summary

The results discussed here demonstrate the widespread implications that changes to snow have on the climate system and anthropogenic activity at large.

中文翻译：

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雪与气候：反馈、驱动因素和变化指数

审查目的

强调最近为增强我们对雪如何响应气候强迫以及雪在气候系统中所发挥的作用的理解而取得的重大进展。

最近的发现

近几十年来，降雪大范围发生，其中春季降雪量最大。这些变化主要是由温度和降水驱动的，但植被、吸光杂质和海冰的变化也导致了变化。积雪的变化也会通过积雪反照率反馈（SAF）影响气候。最近，在更好地理解 SAF 的过程方面取得了相当大的进展。我们还强调了关于雪的变化如何与大规模大气变化相关的知识的进展。最后，在气候变化的影响下，除了最寒冷的气候之外，预计大规模降雪将持续下去。这些预计的降雪变化引起了人们对降雪为主的流域未来淡水供应的极大担忧。

概括

这里讨论的结果证明了雪的变化对气候系统和整个人类活动的广泛影响。