Dataset Information

Rapid glacier retreat and downwasting throughout the European Alps in the early 21^st century.

ABSTRACT: Mountain glaciers are known to be strongly affected by global climate change. Here we compute temporally consistent changes in glacier area, surface elevation and ice mass over the entire European Alps between 2000 and 2014. We apply remote sensing techniques on an extensive database of optical and radar imagery covering 93% of the total Alpine glacier volume. Our results reveal rapid glacier retreat across the Alps (-39?km²?a^-1) with regionally variable ice thickness changes (-0.5 to -0.9?m?a^-1). The strongest downwasting is observed in the Swiss Glarus and Lepontine Alps with specific mass change rates up to -1.03?m.w.e.?a^-1. For the entire Alps a mass loss of 1.3?±?0.2?Gt?a^-1 (2000-2014) is estimated. Compared to previous studies, our estimated mass changes are similar for the central Alps, but less negative for the lower mountain ranges. These observations provide important information for future research on various socio-economic impacts like water resource management, risk assessments and tourism.

SUBMITTER: Sommer C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7316704 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Rapid glacier retreat and downwasting throughout the European Alps in the early 21<sup>st</sup> century.

Sommer Christian C Malz Philipp P Seehaus Thorsten C TC Lippl Stefan S Zemp Michael M Braun Matthias H MH

Nature communications 20200625 1

Mountain glaciers are known to be strongly affected by global climate change. Here we compute temporally consistent changes in glacier area, surface elevation and ice mass over the entire European Alps between 2000 and 2014. We apply remote sensing techniques on an extensive database of optical and radar imagery covering 93% of the total Alpine glacier volume. Our results reveal rapid glacier retreat across the Alps (-39 km² a<sup>-1</sup>) with regionally variable ice thickness changes (-0.5 to ...[more]

PMID: 32587270

Similar Datasets

Project description:To assess the spatial-temporal dynamics of primary succession following deglaciation in soil-dwelling lichen communities.European Alps (Austria, Switzerland and Italy).Five glacier forelands subjected to relevant glacier retreat during the last century were investigated. In each glacier foreland, three successional stages were selected at increasing distance from the glacier, corresponding to a gradient of time since deglaciation between 25 and 160 years. In each successional stage, soil-dwelling lichens were surveyed within five 1 × 1 m plots. In addition to a classical ecological framework, based on species richness and composition, we applied a functional approach to better elucidate community assembly mechanisms.A positive relationship was found between species richness and time since deglaciation indicating that richer lichen communities can be found at increasing terrain ageing. This pattern was associated with compositional shifts, suggesting that different community assemblages can be found along the successional stages. The analysis of ?-diversity revealed a significant nested pattern of species assemblages along the gradient (i.e. earlier successional stages hosted a subset of the species already established in older successional stages), while the turnover component was less relevant. Considering functional groups, we found contrasting patterns in relation to time since deglaciation: the incidence of species with a cyanobacterial photobiont and those reproducing by spores decreased, while that of species reproducing by vegetative propagules increased.This study reveals that community assembly patterns of soil-dwelling lichens in alpine glacier forelands are ruled by mechanisms of directional species accumulation and trait selection that involve a trade-off between different functional strategies. Functional traits that reflect the dispersal and adaptation capability of the species underpin the colonization success of soil-dwelling lichens in glacier forelands.

Dataset Information

Rapid glacier retreat and downwasting throughout the European Alps in the early 21^st century.

Publications

Rapid glacier retreat and downwasting throughout the European Alps in the early 21<sup>st</sup> century.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets

Dataset Information

Rapid glacier retreat and downwasting throughout the European Alps in the early 21st century.

Publications

Rapid glacier retreat and downwasting throughout the European Alps in the early 21<sup>st</sup> century.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets

Rapid glacier retreat and downwasting throughout the European Alps in the early 21^st century.