Using satellite derived data from 1967 to 2012, Dr. Chris Derksen and Ross Brown from Environment Canada’s Climate Research Division, identified significant declines in snow cover extent across the Northern Hemisphere in May and June. This work, spotlighted in the “Research Highlights” section of the September 27, 2012, issue of Nature, was published in Geophysical Research Letters. Entitled “Spring snow cover extent reductions in the 2008-2012 period exceeding climate model projections,” the paper currently appears in the “Papers in Press” section of the Geophysical Research Letters website and will appear in the print version of the journal in fall 2012.

Derksen and Brown note that the rate of terrestrial snow extent loss in June between 1979 and 2011 (-17.8% per decade) is greater than the loss of September sea ice (-10.6% per decade) over the same period. The findings in the paper were also the subject of a recent National Public Radio (NPR) piece.

Cited research:

Derksen, C. and R. Brown. 2012. Spring snow cover extent reductions in the 2008-2012 period exceeding climate model projections. Geophys. Res. Lett., doi:10.1029/2012GL053387, in press.

Arctic snow lost faster than ice. Nature 489, 477 (27 September 2012).

Contact: Dr. Chris Derksen, 416-739-5804, Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate