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Multi-century evaluation of Sierra Nevada snowpack

Nature Climate Change volume 6, pages 2–3 (2016)Cite this article

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To the Editor —

California is currently experiencing a record-setting drought that started in 2012 and recently culminated in the first ever mandatory state-wide water restriction1. The snowpack conditions in the Sierra Nevada mountains present an ominous sign of the severity of this drought: the 1 April 2015 snow water equivalent (SWE) was at only 5% of its historical average2. In the Mediterranean climate of California, with 80% of the precipitation occurring during winter months, Sierra Nevada snowpack plays a critical role in replenishing the state's water reservoirs and provides 30% of its water supply3. As a result, a multi-year and severe snowpack decline can acutely impact human and natural systems, including urban and agricultural water supplies, hydroelectric power4 and wildfire risk5.

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Figure 1: Sierra Nevada 1 April snow water equivalent reconstruction (1500–1980).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a National Science Foundation CAREER grant (AGS-1349942), a grant from the Department of the Interior Southwest Climate Science Center (US Geological Survey; G13AC00339) and a Swiss National Science Foundation grant (P300P2_154543). We are grateful to Kevin Anchukaitis for discussion and useful input.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, 85721, Arizona, USA

    Soumaya Belmecheri, Flurin Babst & Valerie Trouet

  2. NOAA/National Centers for Environmental Information, Paleoclimatology Group, Boulder, 80305, Colorado, USA

    Eugene R. Wahl

  3. Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, 72701, Arkansas, USA

    David W. Stahle

Authors
  1. Soumaya Belmecheri
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  2. Flurin Babst
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  3. Eugene R. Wahl
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  4. David W. Stahle
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  5. Valerie Trouet
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Contributions

S.B., F.B. and V.T. conceived and designed the study, and wrote the Correspondence with input from E.R.W. and D.W.S. E.R.W. and D.W.S. contributed data and S.B. and F.B. performed the analyses with input from V.T. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the data set and discussion.

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Correspondence to Valerie Trouet.

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Belmecheri, S., Babst, F., Wahl, E. et al. Multi-century evaluation of Sierra Nevada snowpack. Nature Clim Change 6, 2–3 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2809

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