From white to green: Snow cover loss and increased vegetation productivity in the European Alps
Mountains are hotspots of biodiversity and ecosystem services, but they are warming about twice as fast as the global average. Climate change may reduce alpine snow cover and increase vegetation productivity, as in the Arctic. Here, we demonstrate that 77% of the European Alps above the tree line ex...
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Online Access: | https://edoc.unibas.ch/88521/ https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn6697 |
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ftunivbasel:oai:edoc.unibas.ch:88521 2023-05-15T13:11:28+02:00 From white to green: Snow cover loss and increased vegetation productivity in the European Alps Rumpf, Sabine B. Gravey, Mathieu Bronnimann, Olivier Luoto, Miska Cianfrani, Carmen Mariethoz, Gregoire Guisan, Antoine 2022 https://edoc.unibas.ch/88521/ https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn6697 unknown Rumpf, Sabine B. and Gravey, Mathieu and Bronnimann, Olivier and Luoto, Miska and Cianfrani, Carmen and Mariethoz, Gregoire and Guisan, Antoine. (2022) From white to green: Snow cover loss and increased vegetation productivity in the European Alps. Science, 376 (6597). pp. 1119-1122. doi:10.1126/science.abn6697 info:pmid/35653482 info:isi/000806053500048 urn:ISSN:0036-8075 urn:ISSN:1095-9203 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftunivbasel https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn6697 2023-03-05T07:29:54Z Mountains are hotspots of biodiversity and ecosystem services, but they are warming about twice as fast as the global average. Climate change may reduce alpine snow cover and increase vegetation productivity, as in the Arctic. Here, we demonstrate that 77% of the European Alps above the tree line experienced greening (productivity gain) and <1% browning (productivity loss) over the past four decades. Snow cover declined significantly during this time, but in <10% of the area. These trends were only weakly correlated: Greening predominated in warmer areas, driven by climatic changes during summer, while snow cover recession peaked at colder temperatures, driven by precipitation changes. Greening could increase carbon sequestration, but this is unlikely to outweigh negative implications, including reduced albedo and water availability, thawing permafrost, and habitat loss. Article in Journal/Newspaper albedo Arctic Climate change permafrost University of Basel: edoc Arctic Browning ENVELOPE(164.050,164.050,-74.617,-74.617) Science 376 6597 1119 1122 |
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University of Basel: edoc |
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ftunivbasel |
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unknown |
description |
Mountains are hotspots of biodiversity and ecosystem services, but they are warming about twice as fast as the global average. Climate change may reduce alpine snow cover and increase vegetation productivity, as in the Arctic. Here, we demonstrate that 77% of the European Alps above the tree line experienced greening (productivity gain) and <1% browning (productivity loss) over the past four decades. Snow cover declined significantly during this time, but in <10% of the area. These trends were only weakly correlated: Greening predominated in warmer areas, driven by climatic changes during summer, while snow cover recession peaked at colder temperatures, driven by precipitation changes. Greening could increase carbon sequestration, but this is unlikely to outweigh negative implications, including reduced albedo and water availability, thawing permafrost, and habitat loss. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rumpf, Sabine B. Gravey, Mathieu Bronnimann, Olivier Luoto, Miska Cianfrani, Carmen Mariethoz, Gregoire Guisan, Antoine |
spellingShingle |
Rumpf, Sabine B. Gravey, Mathieu Bronnimann, Olivier Luoto, Miska Cianfrani, Carmen Mariethoz, Gregoire Guisan, Antoine From white to green: Snow cover loss and increased vegetation productivity in the European Alps |
author_facet |
Rumpf, Sabine B. Gravey, Mathieu Bronnimann, Olivier Luoto, Miska Cianfrani, Carmen Mariethoz, Gregoire Guisan, Antoine |
author_sort |
Rumpf, Sabine B. |
title |
From white to green: Snow cover loss and increased vegetation productivity in the European Alps |
title_short |
From white to green: Snow cover loss and increased vegetation productivity in the European Alps |
title_full |
From white to green: Snow cover loss and increased vegetation productivity in the European Alps |
title_fullStr |
From white to green: Snow cover loss and increased vegetation productivity in the European Alps |
title_full_unstemmed |
From white to green: Snow cover loss and increased vegetation productivity in the European Alps |
title_sort |
from white to green: snow cover loss and increased vegetation productivity in the european alps |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://edoc.unibas.ch/88521/ https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn6697 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(164.050,164.050,-74.617,-74.617) |
geographic |
Arctic Browning |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Browning |
genre |
albedo Arctic Climate change permafrost |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Climate change permafrost |
op_relation |
Rumpf, Sabine B. and Gravey, Mathieu and Bronnimann, Olivier and Luoto, Miska and Cianfrani, Carmen and Mariethoz, Gregoire and Guisan, Antoine. (2022) From white to green: Snow cover loss and increased vegetation productivity in the European Alps. Science, 376 (6597). pp. 1119-1122. doi:10.1126/science.abn6697 info:pmid/35653482 info:isi/000806053500048 urn:ISSN:0036-8075 urn:ISSN:1095-9203 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn6697 |
container_title |
Science |
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376 |
container_issue |
6597 |
container_start_page |
1119 |
op_container_end_page |
1122 |
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1766247583615811584 |