How seas whisper to snow: teleconnections drive spatio-temporal variability of snow cover in Western Himalayas.

ABSTRACT: The high Himalayas host a vast cryosphere, critical for both local and global environmental stability. While a few former studies have examined point-scale precipitation variabilities; others have focused on snow cover (SC) trends at regional scales. We investigate how SC in the Western Himalayas varies across spatio-temporal scales; and what factors drive these variabilities. Towards this, we derive a historical record (1989-2025) of SC for six high-mountainous watersheds from satellite (Landsat) observations. We calculate three characteristics of SC extent: Fractional SC, fractional Temporary SC, and Principal Components (PC) of Normalized Difference Snow Index. Eigen-vectors of the PCs establish the association between the spatial distribution of SC variability and basin topography. The

SUBMITTER: Sengupta S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12500974 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature