Articles | Volume 11, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-517-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-517-2017
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
16 Feb 2017
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 16 Feb 2017

How much can we save? Impact of different emission scenarios on future snow cover in the Alps

Christoph Marty, Sebastian Schlögl, Mathias Bavay, and Michael Lehning

Related authors

Snow depth sensitivity to mean temperature, precipitation, and elevation in the Austrian and Swiss Alps
Matthew Switanek, Gernot Resch, Andreas Gobiet, Daniel Günther, Christoph Marty, and Wolfgang Schöner
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1172,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1172, 2024
Short summary
An empirical model to calculate snow depth from daily snow water equivalent: SWE2HS 1.0
Johannes Aschauer, Adrien Michel, Tobias Jonas, and Christoph Marty
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4063–4081, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4063-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4063-2023, 2023
Short summary
SnowQM 1.0: A fast R Package for bias-correcting spatial fields of snow water equivalent using quantile mapping
Adrien Michel, Johannes Aschauer, Tobias Jonas, Stefanie Gubler, Sven Kotlarski, and Christoph Marty
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2022-298,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2022-298, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for GMD
Short summary
The benefits of homogenising snow depth series – Impacts on decadal trends and extremes for Switzerland
Moritz Buchmann, Gernot Resch, Michael Begert, Stefan Brönnimann, Barbara Chimani, Wolfgang Schöner, and Christoph Marty
The Cryosphere, 17, 653–671, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-653-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-653-2023, 2023
Short summary
Homogeneity assessment of Swiss snow depth series: comparison of break detection capabilities of (semi-)automatic homogenization methods
Moritz Buchmann, John Coll, Johannes Aschauer, Michael Begert, Stefan Brönnimann, Barbara Chimani, Gernot Resch, Wolfgang Schöner, and Christoph Marty
The Cryosphere, 16, 2147–2161, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2147-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2147-2022, 2022
Short summary

Related subject area

Seasonal Snow
From snow accumulation to snow depth distributions by quantifying meteoric ice fractions in the Weddell Sea
Stefanie Arndt, Nina Maaß, Leonard Rossmann, and Marcel Nicolaus
The Cryosphere, 18, 2001–2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2001-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2001-2024, 2024
Short summary
Snow depth in high-resolution regional climate model simulations over southern Germany – suitable for extremes and impact-related research?
Benjamin Poschlod and Anne Sophie Daloz
The Cryosphere, 18, 1959–1981, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1959-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1959-2024, 2024
Short summary
Which global reanalysis dataset represents better in snow cover on the Tibetan Plateau?
Shirui Yan, Wei Pu, Yang Chen, Yaliang Hou, Xuejing Li, Yuxuan Xing, Dongyou Wu, Jiecan Cui, Yue Zhou, and Xin Wang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-82,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-82, 2024
Short summary
Snow water equivalent retrieval over Idaho – Part 2: Using L-band UAVSAR repeat-pass interferometry
Zachary Hoppinen, Shadi Oveisgharan, Hans-Peter Marshall, Ross Mower, Kelly Elder, and Carrie Vuyovich
The Cryosphere, 18, 575–592, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-575-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-575-2024, 2024
Short summary
Variability and drivers of winter near-surface temperatures over boreal and tundra landscapes
Vilna Tyystjärvi, Pekka Niittynen, Julia Kemppinen, Miska Luoto, Tuuli Rissanen, and Juha Aalto
The Cryosphere, 18, 403–423, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-403-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-403-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Abegg, B., Agrawala, S., Crick, F., and de Montfalcon, A.: Climate change impacts and adaptation in winter tourism, in: Climate Change in the European Alps, edited by: Agrawala, S., OECD, Paris, France, 25–60, 2007.
Bartolini, E., Claps, P., and D'Odorico, P.: Interannual variability of winter precipitation in the European Alps: relations with the North Atlantic Oscillation., Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 17–25, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-13-17-2009, 2009.
Bavay, M. and Egger, T.: MeteoIO 2.4.2: a preprocessing library for meteorological data, Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 3135–3151, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-3135-2014, 2014.
Bavay, M., Lehning, M., Jonas, T., and Löwe, H.: Simulations of future snow cover and discharge in Alpine headwater catchments, Hydrol. Process., 23, 95–108, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.7195, 2009.
Bavay, M., Grünewald, T., and Lehning, M.: Response of snow cover and runoff to climate change in high Alpine catchments of Eastern Switzerland, Adv. Water Resour., 55, 4–16, 2013.
Download
Short summary
We simulate the future snow cover in the Alps with the help of a snow model, which is fed by projected temperature and precipitation changes from a large set of climate models. The results demonstrate that snow below 1000 m is probably a rare guest at the end of the century. Moreover, even above 3000 m the simulations show a drastic decrease in snow depth. However, the results reveal that the projected snow cover reduction can be mitigated by 50 % if we manage to keep global warming below 2°.