Historical variability in Northern Hemisphere spring snow-covered area

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Abstract
Observed and reconstructed snow-cover duration data from stations covering southern Canada, the Great Plains, the former Soviet Union and China were used to reconstruct spring snow-covered area over North America (NA) and Eurasia from 1915 to 1985. A combination of nine regions from NA and five from Eurasia were able to explain 81% and 67%, respectively, of the variance in satellite-derived sprint; snow-covered area (SCA) for each continent. The results suggested sprint; SCA had decreased significantly in Eurasia this century, but there was no evidence of a similar long-term decrease in NA spring SCA. Considerable caution should be used when interpreting these results because of the short period of calibration, and because of the less-than-optimal distribution of station data. Nonetheless, the reconstructed results are consistent with observed spring-temperature trends, which show a significant increase over Eurasia, but none Over NA.