ISSN 2070-7401 (Print), ISSN 2411-0280 (Online)
Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa
CURRENT PROBLEMS IN REMOTE SENSING OF THE EARTH FROM SPACE

  

Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2021, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 279-284

Extremal snowfall on March 13–14, 2021, in the South Kazakhstan

A.G. Terekhov 1, 2 , N.N. Abayev 2, 3 , T.A. Tillakarim 2, 3 
1 Institute of Information and Computational Technologies, Almaty, Kazakhstan
2 RSE Kazhydromet, Almaty, Kazakhstan
3 Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Accepted: 12.07.2021
DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2021-18-4-279-284
The product Snow Depth FEWS NET with a daily renew and spatial resolution of 1 km was used to monitor the snow cover of Kazakhstan in the 2020–2021 season. In February – March 2021, there were regular incursions of warm air into Siberia, which passed through the Kazakhstan territory and caused frequent precipitation. Within the framework of these meteorological processes, one event of heavy snowfall in the South Kazakhstan distinguished by its power. During March 13–14, 2021, in the area of the Karatau Range (2176 m), there was a heavy snowfall. The Karatau Range is a low, 500-kilometer northwestern spur of the Tien Shan mountains (7439 m), wedged into the zone of dry steppes and semi-deserts of South Kazakhstan and separating the valleys of the Syrdarya and Talas rivers. According to the product Snow Depth FEWS NET, more than 2.5 km3 of water fell in the form of snow. Within 2 days, the average depth of the snow cover in the Karatau Range area increased from 0.8 to 48.5 cm. This snow depth updated the previous long-term seasonal maximum of 43 cm (February 4, 2005). The long-term maximum snow depth of 13 cm on March 13–14 (2003) was exceeded almost 4 times. The anomalous phenomenon in the area of the Karatau Range indicates a potentially high climatic variability of this area. Usually, atmospheric fronts run along the ridge and do not bring a significant amount of precipitation. The increase in the frequency of events of the transition of atmospheric fronts through the ridge, as a result of the interaction of atmospheric transport in the South Kazakhstan with the Siberian Anticyclone, can dramatically increase the climatic norm of snow content of the Karatau Range in future.
Keywords: Snow Depth FEWS NET, snow depth monitoring, Karatau range, Tian Shian mountains, abnormal snowfall, climate variability
Full text

References:

  1. Terekhov A. G., Pak I. T., Dolgikh S. A., Satellite observations of the anomalous spring flood at the lower reach of the Ayaguz River in 2016, Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2016, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 273–276 (in Russian), DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2016-13-4-273-276.
  2. Terekhov A. G., Abayev N. N., Yunicheva N. R., Anomalous snowy regime in 2019 and long-term trends in snow depth in Kazakhstan, Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2019, Vol. 16, No. 5, pp. 351–355 (in Russian), DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2019-16-5-351-355.
  3. Terekhov A. G., Ivkina N. I., Yunicheva N. R., Vitkovskaya I. S., Yeltay A. G. (2020a), Snow cover changes of the Kazakhstan dry steppes and semi-deserts: the case of River Emba basin studies, Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2020, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 101–113 (in Russian), DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2020-17-2-101-113.
  4. Terekhov A. G., Ivkina N. I., Abayev N. N., Yeltay A. G., Yegemberdieva Z. (2020b), Validation of daily Snow Depth FEWS NET product over River Ural basin on snow depth meteorological observations, Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2020, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 31–40 (in Russian), DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2020-17-3-31-40.
  5. Terekhov A. G., Ivkina N. I., Abayev N. N., Galalyeva A. V., Yeltay A. G. (2020c), Streamflow response of the Ural River to basin snow depth changes during 2001–2019, Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2020, Vol. 17, No. 5, pp. 181–190 (in Russian), DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2020-17-5-181-190.
  6. Daly Ch., Neilson R. P., Phillips D. L., A Statistical-Topographic Model for Mapping Climatological Precipitation over Mountainous Terrain, J. Applied Meteorology, 1994, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 140–158, DOI: 10.1175/1520-0450(1994)033<0140:ASTMFM>2.0.CO;2.
  7. Hansen J., Sato M., Ruedy R., Perception of climate change, Proc. National Academy of Science of the United States of America, 2012, Vol. 109, No. 37, pp. E2415– E2423, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1205276109.
  8. Rahmstorf S., Coumou D., Increase of extreme events in a warming world, Proc. National Academy of Science of the United States of America, 2011, Vol. 108, No. 44, pp. 17905–17909, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1101766108.