idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
SLF researchers are investigating a wide range of climate change impacts in the Alps so that people there can prepare for them. Those living and working in this region face considerable challenges as their environment is changing fast.
Climate change, turbo-charged: In the Alps, in the heart of Europe, temperatures are rising twice as fast as the global average. Glaciers are melting, mountains are crumbling, flora and fauna are changing. Scientists from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) in Davos – right in the thick of the action – are researching the processes involved, and what people in the mountains need to prepare for. Here we present an overview of the SLF's current research and its findings.
Alpine natural hazards
Climate change is intensifying natural hazards in the mountains in many places, posing particular challenges for the Alpine region. This is the conclusion of a study jointly coordinated by SLF permafrost expert Samuel Weber and glaciologist Mylène Jacquemart from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and ETH Zurich. The international team reviewed over 300 scientific publications from the past three decades, leading the researchers to conclude that rockfalls, debris flows and rock avalanches will become more frequent. "This change poses major challenges for society in the Alpine region," say Jacquemart and Weber.
Permafrost
Permafrost temperatures are rising sharply throughout Europe's mountain regions. Researchers have observed the greatest warming at the highest and northernmost locations – in some cases, more than one degree Celsius over the past ten years, at a depth of ten metres. This was the conclusion reached by over 20 permafrost researchers led by SLF scientist Jeannette Nötzli. They collated and analysed 64 measurement series from nine European countries, from High Arctic Svalbard to the Alps and the Sierra Nevada in southern Spain, presenting their findings in a study. In mountainous areas, this development is leading to an increase in natural hazards such as rockfalls and debris flows.
Snow volumes
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 the SLF used a model to simulate the temporal and spatial development of the snowpack in Switzerland since 1962. "The impact of climate change is quite obvious here," says SLF climatologist Christoph Marty.
Mountain spring and biodiversity
Plants are sprouting from the ground earlier and earlier once the snow has disappeared. This is now happening on average six days earlier than 25 years ago. "On average, as a result of climate change, the ambient temperature is almost two degrees Celsius warmer after the disappearance of snow cover than it was 25 years ago," explains SLF researcher Michael Zehnder. This will entail changes to biodiversity in the Alps, he says. Without any insulating snowpack in the spring, soils are more likely to become entirely frozen and plants are exposed to more extreme temperatures. Late frosts may then have a negative impact on blueberry yields, for example.
Marmots living at higher elevations
Climate change is causing marmots to move, but not far: this is the conclusion of a study by SLF biologist Anne Kempel. She investigated the elevation at which most marmots currently live and compared her findings with data from 1982. Her assumption was that the animals were moving to higher elevations because of the warmer temperatures caused by climate change. "But that's only partly true," says the researcher.
Heat in mountain rivers and streams
Water temperatures in Europe's mountain rivers have been rising for decades. This is endangering water quality, fish, industrial output and electricity production – and if the trend continues, ecological tipping points will be reached. One thing is clear: increasingly warm air temperatures due to climate change are also warming our rivers and streams. But this is not the only significant effect at work. Soil moisture, groundwater and meltwater also play a role in the occurrence of extreme water temperatures. SLF hydrologist Amber van Hamel examined time series from 177 rivers and their catchment areas in the Alps, the Pyrenees, France's Massif Central and the mountains of Scandinavia. She says: "The number of extreme events has increased significantly."
A whole magazine devoted to climate change
In the summer 2025 issue of DIAGONAL magazine, WSL and the SLF focus entirely on climate change and the natural hazards associated with it.
https://www.slf.ch/en/news/climate-change-in-the-alps-a-potential-threat/
https://www.slf.ch/en/news/climate-change-leads-to-more-alpine-hazards/ climate change leads to more alpine hazards
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54831-9 mountain permafrost
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024WR037518 climate change warms mountain streams
In the middle of the high season at 27th of december 2022, the skiing area at Kaiseregg was in the g ...
Source: Franz Thalmann
Criteria of this press release:
Journalists
Environment / ecology, Oceanology / climate
transregional, national
Research results, Transfer of Science or Research
English
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