Snow cover strongly modulates the energy fluxes between the atmosphere and the Earth's surface. Indeed, snow has generally a much higher albedo compared to other surfaces and therefore reduces the amount of solar radiation absorbed by the surface. …
Climate change over High Mountain Asia is investigated with CMIP6 climate models. A general cold bias is found in this area, often related to a snow cover overestimation in the models. Ensemble experiments generally encompass the past observed trends, suggesting that even biased models can reproduce the trends. Depending on the future scenario, a warming from 1.9 to 6.5 °C, associated with a snow cover decrease and precipitation increase, is expected at the end of the 21st century.