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New model reveals altitude-dependent snow trends across the whole of Switzerland for the first time: average snow depths have been decreasing for decades.
• New model: SLF is analysing snow trends across the whole of Switzerland by altitude for the first time.
• SPASS model reveals declining snowfall: at some altitudes, average snow depth has decreased by up to eight centimetres per decade over the past 60 years.
• Visible evidence of climate change: the Swiss plateau has experienced the greatest percentage decline, with decreases of up to 20% per decade.
A decline of eight centimetres per decade: at some altitudes in the Swiss Alps, average snow depth between November and April has decreased significantly in recent decades. This has been confirmed by new results from the SPASS (SPatial Snow climatology for Switzerland) project, in which researchers from SLF used a model to simulate the temporal and spatial development of the snowpack in Switzerland since 1962. “This marks the first time that we have been able to show trends over an extensive area and for different altitudes”, says Christoph Marty, climatologist at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Davos. The calculations, which were carried out in collaboration with MeteoSchweiz, are based on model results from the past six decades. “The impact of climate change is quite obvious here”, explains Marty.
In absolute terms, however, the Swiss plateau is actually in a comparatively good position. Average snow depth here has decreased by less than one centimetre per decade, a fact that does not surprise Marty in the slightest: “There is very little snow there anyway, so it can’t decrease by more than a few centimetres. It is in the mountains, by contrast, where there is the greatest snow depth, that the decline has been the greatest”.
A double-digit decline
In relative terms, the situation looks a little different. “In percentage terms, the Swiss plateau has seen the greatest losses”, explains Marty. The decline there is generally between ten and twenty per cent per decade. By way of comparison, snowfall has declined by approximately four per cent per decade at 2000 metres above sea level. “Still higher up, the decrease in the winter snowpack is even smaller and in some areas is not even considered significant”, says Marty.
For the model, Switzerland was divided into a grid of squares, each with an edge length of one kilometre. Altitude bands of 500 metres each, starting from 250 metres above sea level, were also used. “Only few small areas of Switzerland lie below this level”, says Marty. He excluded mountain regions above 3000 metres as too few long-term comparative measurements are available for these areas.
SPASS for research, business and the public
To improve the results, Marty and his team took into account measurement data from 350 stations over the past 25 years. “This enabled us to adapt the SPASS simulation as closely as possible to reality”, he says, describing the process. This proved most successful at altitudes above 800 metres above sea level. SPASS thus provides detailed results for every square kilometre and its corresponding altitude band.
These results are being put to use in various areas of research and public life, with one example being a project with Switzerland Tourism and Seilbahnen Schweiz, the country's cable car industry association. The SPASS model is run by the Operational Snow Hydrology Service (OSHD) at SLF, which also contributed to its development. Climatological analyses have been regularly published in Avablog and the SLF’s annual winter report, as well as the Hydrological Yearbook of Switzerland produced by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). In the medium term, the latest results from SPASS will be incorporated into the SLF’s White Risk app to give winter sports participants access to the information. MeteoSchweiz is also planning to make the climatological snow information from SPASS available to the public.
Dr. Christoph Marty
Scientific staff member
marty(at)slf.ch
+41 81 4170 168
SLF Davos
https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-413/
https://www.slf.ch/en/news/in-the-red-zone/
Relative change in average snow depth from November to April between 1962 and 2023 in per cent per d ...
Quelle: Christoph Marty / SLF
Copyright: Christoph Marty / SLF
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Journalisten, Wirtschaftsvertreter, Wissenschaftler
Meer / Klima, Physik / Astronomie, Umwelt / Ökologie
überregional
Forschungs- / Wissenstransfer, Forschungsergebnisse
Englisch
Relative change in average snow depth from November to April between 1962 and 2023 in per cent per d ...
Quelle: Christoph Marty / SLF
Copyright: Christoph Marty / SLF
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