A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF SNOW MASS VARIATIONS OVER PAST 30 YEARS IN CHINA

Daily ground data including complet records on snowfall,snow depth,and snow cover duration from more than 2300 weather stations between 1951 and 1980 have been used to monitor and diagnose snow mass variations in China.The time series analysis suggests that both annual snowfall amount and winter snowpack storage are positively correlated with the global mean temperature,increasing during the warming period and decreasing during the cooling period.The heavier-than-normal snow appears to be associated with El Ninc-Southern Oscillation,whereas the lighter-than-normal snow is linked to the large voicanic eruptions.The CO2-induced changes in seasonal snow might aggravate the trend of regional differentiation of snow between high mountains and low lands as well as between moist and arid areas.