Water and life from snow: A trillion dollar science question

Snow provides essential resources/services in the form of water for human use, and climate regulation in the form of enhanced cooling of the Earth. In addition, it supports a thriving winter outdoor recreation industry. To date, the financial evaluation of the importance of snow is incomplete and hence the need for accelerated snow research is not as clear as it could be. With snow cover changing worldwide in several worrisome ways, there is pressing need to determine global, regional, and local rates of snow cover change, and to link these to financial analyses that allow for rational decision making, as risks related to those decisions involve trillions of dollars. Plain Language Summary Snow is critical in sustaining human life. It provides water and plays a key role in the climate through its unrivaled power to cool the Earth. It is also changing rapidly. To date, a full financial evaluation of the importance of snow in our lives has not been made, but computations here and elsewhere indicate it is on the order of trillions of dollars. Against this value, the current costs of scientific research are trivial. We provide a strong rationale and guidelines for accelerated snow research that will allow society to make major impending decisions related to snow resources on the soundest base and best scientific knowledge. Key Points Snow is a critical but often‐unappreciated resource used by humans, and it is changing due to global warming in worrisome ways Work presented here suggests the valuation across many years of western US snow resources exceeds a trillion dollars More research is needed to help society make sound decisions on expensive major climate‐driven snow resource changes