Impact of snowfall changes in Mediterranean mountain areas: A regional perspective over several Natural Parks in southern Spain

The current meteorological drought situation we have been facing in the Mediterranean mountain regions during the last years has also resulted in a shift in snowfall seasonal patterns with consequences in snowpack phenology on an annual basis. This snowfall translation has direct implications on the ecosystems and their services over mountainous areas that depend on snow. The Sierra Nevada mountain range (southern Spain), is a clear example of an area experimenting with that issue. For instance, 2019-2020 was a year with shallow snowpacks in three clear accumulation-ablation cycles, in 2020-2021 snowpacks were thicker but with a shorter duration, or in 2021-2022, the first big accumulation cycles took place at the beginning of March.But, are these changes exclusive of this mountain range? Have they been experimented in closer mountain areas? In this study we analysed snowfall trends in several protected mountainous areas closer to Sierra Nevada: i) Sierra de Cazorla, ii) Sierras Subbéticas, iii) Sierras de Cardeña-Montoto and iv) Sierra de Grazalema, with the twofold objective of comparing trends and learning from the past situation. For that, we carried out a spatiotemporal analysis of snowfall historical trends for the period 1960-2020 using in situ meteorological registers, specific interpolation algorithms and a nonparametric Mann-Kendall (MK) statistical test in all areas. Comparative results show that only two of five areas analysed have snowfall in almost all years, with similar phenology but different magnitude. The occasional snowfall episode observed in the other three areas allows defining the particular conditions needed for snowfall.
The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)