How much can we save? Impact of different emission scenarios on future snow cover in the Alps
This study focuses on an assessment of the future snow depth for two larger Alpine catchments. Automatic weather station data from two diverse regions in the Swiss Alps have been used as input for the Alpine3D surface process model to compute the snow cover at a 200 m horizontal resolution for the r...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:359feabcd92f4a39928434819ec7b7b7 2023-05-15T18:32:31+02:00 How much can we save? Impact of different emission scenarios on future snow cover in the Alps C. Marty S. Schlögl M. Bavay M. Lehning 2017-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-517-2017 https://doaj.org/article/359feabcd92f4a39928434819ec7b7b7 EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/517/2017/tc-11-517-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-11-517-2017 https://doaj.org/article/359feabcd92f4a39928434819ec7b7b7 The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 517-529 (2017) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-517-2017 2022-12-31T11:14:01Z This study focuses on an assessment of the future snow depth for two larger Alpine catchments. Automatic weather station data from two diverse regions in the Swiss Alps have been used as input for the Alpine3D surface process model to compute the snow cover at a 200 m horizontal resolution for the reference period (1999–2012). Future temperature and precipitation changes have been computed from 20 downscaled GCM-RCM chains for three different emission scenarios, including one intervention scenario (2 °C target) and for three future time periods (2020–2049, 2045–2074, 2070–2099). By applying simple daily change values to measured time series of temperature and precipitation, small-scale climate scenarios have been calculated for the median estimate and extreme changes. The projections reveal a decrease in snow depth for all elevations, time periods and emission scenarios. The non-intervention scenarios demonstrate a decrease of about 50 % even for elevations above 3000 m. The most affected elevation zone for climate change is located below 1200 m, where the simulations show almost no snow towards the end of the century. Depending on the emission scenario and elevation zone the winter season starts half a month to 1 month later and ends 1 to 3 months earlier in this last scenario period. The resulting snow cover changes may be roughly equivalent to an elevation shift of 500–800 or 700–1000 m for the two non-intervention emission scenarios. At the end of the century the number of snow days may be more than halved at an elevation of around 1500 m and only 0–2 snow days are predicted in the lowlands. The results for the intervention scenario reveal no differences for the first scenario period but clearly demonstrate a stabilization thereafter, comprising much lower snow cover reductions towards the end of the century (ca. 30 % instead of 70 %). Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles The Cryosphere 11 1 517 529 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 C. Marty S. Schlögl M. Bavay M. Lehning How much can we save? Impact of different emission scenarios on future snow cover in the Alps |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
This study focuses on an assessment of the future snow depth for two larger Alpine catchments. Automatic weather station data from two diverse regions in the Swiss Alps have been used as input for the Alpine3D surface process model to compute the snow cover at a 200 m horizontal resolution for the reference period (1999–2012). Future temperature and precipitation changes have been computed from 20 downscaled GCM-RCM chains for three different emission scenarios, including one intervention scenario (2 °C target) and for three future time periods (2020–2049, 2045–2074, 2070–2099). By applying simple daily change values to measured time series of temperature and precipitation, small-scale climate scenarios have been calculated for the median estimate and extreme changes. The projections reveal a decrease in snow depth for all elevations, time periods and emission scenarios. The non-intervention scenarios demonstrate a decrease of about 50 % even for elevations above 3000 m. The most affected elevation zone for climate change is located below 1200 m, where the simulations show almost no snow towards the end of the century. Depending on the emission scenario and elevation zone the winter season starts half a month to 1 month later and ends 1 to 3 months earlier in this last scenario period. The resulting snow cover changes may be roughly equivalent to an elevation shift of 500–800 or 700–1000 m for the two non-intervention emission scenarios. At the end of the century the number of snow days may be more than halved at an elevation of around 1500 m and only 0–2 snow days are predicted in the lowlands. The results for the intervention scenario reveal no differences for the first scenario period but clearly demonstrate a stabilization thereafter, comprising much lower snow cover reductions towards the end of the century (ca. 30 % instead of 70 %). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. Marty S. Schlögl M. Bavay M. Lehning |
author_facet |
C. Marty S. Schlögl M. Bavay M. Lehning |
author_sort |
C. Marty |
title |
How much can we save? Impact of different emission scenarios on future snow cover in the Alps |
title_short |
How much can we save? Impact of different emission scenarios on future snow cover in the Alps |
title_full |
How much can we save? Impact of different emission scenarios on future snow cover in the Alps |
title_fullStr |
How much can we save? Impact of different emission scenarios on future snow cover in the Alps |
title_full_unstemmed |
How much can we save? Impact of different emission scenarios on future snow cover in the Alps |
title_sort |
how much can we save? impact of different emission scenarios on future snow cover in the alps |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-517-2017 https://doaj.org/article/359feabcd92f4a39928434819ec7b7b7 |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 517-529 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/517/2017/tc-11-517-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-11-517-2017 https://doaj.org/article/359feabcd92f4a39928434819ec7b7b7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-517-2017 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
517 |
op_container_end_page |
529 |
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