Winter Precipitation Efficiency of Mountain Ranges in the Colorado Rockies Under Climate Change

2018 ◽  
Vol 123 (5) ◽  
pp. 2573-2590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trude Eidhammer ◽  
Vanda Grubišić ◽  
Roy Rasmussen ◽  
Kyoko Ikdea
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Winter Precipitation ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Precipitation Efficiency ◽  
Colorado Rockies

North Atlantic Oscillation; a Climatic Indicator to Predict Hydropower Availability in Scandinavia

2002 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 415-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cintia B. Uvo ◽  
Ronny Berndtsson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
North Atlantic Oscillation ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Winter Precipitation ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
The World ◽  
Hydropower Production ◽  
Precipitation And Temperature

Climate variability and climate change are of great concern to economists and energy producers as well as environmentalists as both affect the precipitation and temperature in many regions of the world. Among those affected by climate variability is the Scandinavian Peninsula. Particularly, its winter precipitation and temperature are affected by the variations of the so-called North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The objective of this paper is to analyze the spatial distribution of the influence of NAO over Scandinavia. This analysis is a first step to establishing a predictive model, driven by a climatic indicator such as NAO, for the available water resources of different regions in Scandinavia. Such a tool would be valuable for predicting potential of hydropower production one or more seasons in advance.

Promoting science-based, community-driven approaches to climate change adaptation in glaciated mountain ranges: HiMAP

Geography ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alton C. Byers ◽  
Daene C. McKinney ◽  
Shailendra Thakali ◽  
Marcelo Somos-Valenzuela
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Mountain Ranges

scholarly journals Climate change threatens archeologically significant ice patches: insights into their age, internal structure, mass balance and climate sensitivity

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rune Strand Ødegård ◽  
Atle Nesje ◽  
Ketil Isaksen ◽  
Liss Marie Andreassen ◽  
Trond Eiken ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Winter Precipitation ◽  
Early Summer ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Original Position ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Carbonaceous Aerosols ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Melt Water

Abstract. Despite numerous spectacular archaeological discoveries worldwide related to melting ice patches and the emerging field of glacial archaeology, governing processes related to ice patch development during Holocene and their sensitivity to climate change are still largely unexplored. Here we present new results from an extensive 6-year (2009–2015) field experiment at Juvfonne ice patch in Jotunheimen in central southern Norway. Our results show that the ice patch existed continuously since the late Mesolithic period. Organic-rich layers and carbonaceous aerosols embedded in clear ice shows ages spanning from modern at the surface to ca. 6200 BCE at the bottom. This is the oldest dating of ice in mainland Norway. Moss mats appearing along the margin of Juvfonne in 2014 were covered by the expanding ice patch about 2000 years ago. During the study period the mass balance record shows a strong negative balance, and the net balance is highly asymmetric over short distances. Snow accumulation is poorly correlated with winter precipitation and single storm events may contribute significantly to the total winter balance. Snow accumulation is approx. 20 % higher in the frontal area compared to the upper central part of the ice patch. The thermal regime in Juvfonne is similar to what is found close to the equilibrium line of nearby glaciers. There is sufficient melt water to bring the permeable snowpack to an isothermal state within a few weeks in early summer. Below the seasonal snowpack ice temperatures are between −2 and −4 °C, similar to the surrounding permafrost terrain. Juvfonne has clear ice stratification of isochronic origin. The cumulative deformation of ice over millennia explain the observed curved layering in the basal parts of the ice patch, which makes it difficult to relate the present thickness to previous thickness of the ice patch. Ice deformation and surface processes (i.e. wind and melt water) may have caused significant displacement of artefacts from their original position. Thus the dating and position of artefacts cannot be used directly to reconstruct previous ice patch extent. In the perspective of surface energy and mass balance; ice patches are in the transition zone between permafrost terrain and glaciers. Future research will need to carefully address this interaction to build reliable models.

Climate change and elevational range shifts: evidence from dung beetles in two European mountain ranges

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 646-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Menéndez ◽  
Adela González-Megías ◽  
Pierre Jay-Robert ◽  
Rocío Marquéz-Ferrando
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
European Mountain ◽  
Elevational Range

scholarly journals Area Not Geographic Isolation Mediates Biodiversity Responses of Alpine Refugia to Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jared D. Huxley ◽  
Marko J. Spasojevic
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Specific Leaf Area ◽  
Landscape Context ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Sky Islands ◽  
Geographic Isolation ◽  
Community Size ◽  
Colorado Rockies

Climate refugia, where local populations of species can persist through periods of unfavorable regional climate, play a key role in the maintenance of regional biodiversity during times of environmental change. However, the ability of refugia to buffer biodiversity change may be mediated by the landscape context of refugial habitats. Here, we examined how plant communities restricted to refugial sky islands of alpine tundra in the Colorado Rockies are changing in response to rapid climate change in the region (increased temperature, declining snowpack, and earlier snow melt-out) and if these biodiversity changes are mediated by the area or geographic isolation of the sky island. We resampled plant communities in 153 plots at seven sky islands distributed across the Colorado Rockies at two time points separated by 12 years (2007/2008–2019/2020) and found changes in taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity over time. Specifically, we found an increase in species richness, a trend toward increased phylogenetic diversity, a shift toward leaf traits associated with the stress-tolerant end of leaf economics spectrum (e.g., lower specific leaf area, higher leaf dry matter content), and a decrease in the functional dispersion of specific leaf area. Importantly, these changes were partially mediated by refugial area but not by geographic isolation, suggesting that dispersal from nearby areas of tundra does not play a strong role in mediating these changes, while site characteristics associated with a larger area (e.g., environmental heterogeneity, larger community size) may be relatively more important. Taken together, these results suggest that considering the landscape context (area and geographic isolation) of refugia may be critical for prioritizing the conservation of specific refugial sites that provide the most conservation value.

scholarly journals Northern Mediterranean climate since the Middle Pleistocene: a 637 ka stable isotope record from Lake Ohrid (Albania/Macedonia)

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1801-1820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack H. Lacey ◽  
Melanie J. Leng ◽  
Alexander Francke ◽  
Hilary J. Sloane ◽  
Antoni Milodowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Winter Precipitation ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Lake Ohrid ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Glacial Sediments ◽  
Core Profile ◽  
Environmental Events

Abstract. Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania) is an ancient lake with unique biodiversity and a site of global significance for investigating the influence of climate, geological, and tectonic events on the generation of endemic populations. Here, we present oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotope data from carbonate over the upper 243 m of a composite core profile recovered as part of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project. The investigated sediment succession covers the past ca. 637 ka. Previous studies on short cores from the lake (up to 15 m, < 140 ka) have indicated the total inorganic carbon (TIC) content of sediments to be highly sensitive to climate change over the last glacial–interglacial cycle. Sediments corresponding to warmer periods contain abundant endogenic calcite; however, an overall low TIC content in glacial sediments is punctuated by discrete bands of early diagenetic authigenic siderite. Isotope measurements on endogenic calcite (δ18Oc and δ13Cc) reveal variations both between and within interglacials that suggest the lake has been subject to palaeoenvironmental change on orbital and millennial timescales. We also measured isotope ratios from authigenic siderite (δ18Os and δ13Cs) and, with the oxygen isotope composition of calcite and siderite, reconstruct δ18O of lake water (δ18Olw) over the last 637 ka. Interglacials have higher δ18Olw values when compared to glacial periods most likely due to changes in evaporation, summer temperature, the proportion of winter precipitation (snowfall), and inflow from adjacent Lake Prespa. The isotope stratigraphy suggests Lake Ohrid experienced a period of general stability from marine isotope stage (MIS) 15 to MIS 13, highlighting MIS 14 as a particularly warm glacial. Climate conditions became progressively wetter during MIS 11 and MIS 9. Interglacial periods after MIS 9 are characterised by increasingly evaporated and drier conditions through MIS 7, MIS 5, and the Holocene. Our results provide new evidence for long-term climate change in the northern Mediterranean region, which will form the basis to better understand the influence of major environmental events on biological evolution within Lake Ohrid.

Meltdown

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Daniel Taillant
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Jet Streams ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Water Currents ◽  
Glacier Melt ◽  
Warming Climate ◽  
Runoff Reduction ◽  
Glacier Runoff ◽  
Arctic Ice

Climate change is happening all around us, and one of the telltale signs is melting glaciers. We hear about it almost daily, pieces of ice the size of continents breaking off of Antarctica or the polar arctic ice breaking up and disappearing more and more quickly opening up navigational routes once unavailable due to thick winter ice cover. Will melting ice and glaciers so far away change our lives? Meltdown takes us deep into the cryosphere, the Earth’s frozen environment and picks apart why glacier melt caused by climate change will alter (and already is altering) the way we live around the world. From rising seas that will destroy property and flood millions of acres of coastal lands, displacing hundreds of millions of people, to rising global temperatures due to reflectivity changes of the Earth because of decreased white glacier surface area, to colossal water supply changes from glacier runoff reduction, to deadly glacier tsunamis caused by the structural weakening of ice on high mountaintops that will take out entire communities living in glacier runoff basins, to escaping methane gas from thawing frozen permafrost grounds, and changing ocean temperatures that affect jet streams and ocean water currents around the planet, glacier melt is altering our global ecosystems in ways that will drastically change our everyday lives. Meltdown takes us into the little-known periglacial environment, a world of invisible subterranean glaciers in our coldest mountain ranges that will survive the initial impacts of climate change but that are also ultimately at risk due to a warming climate. By examining the dynamics of melting glaciers, Meltdown helps us grasp the impacts of a massive geological era shift occurring right before our eyes.

2. Ancient reefs and islands

2021 ◽  
pp. 12-19
Author(s):  
Charles Sheppard
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Vast Array ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Island Type ◽  
Coral Island ◽  
Low Mountain Ranges ◽  
Limestone Rock ◽  
Tabulate Corals

Reefs in deep geological time have been built by a succession of different kinds of life: plant, bacterial, and animal. Stromatolites and bryozoans were major reef-builders that persist today in minor or non-reef-building forms, sponges built entire reefs and are still important reef components, while several groups of major reef-builders flourished for a while and then became extinct: archaeocyathids which were similar to sponges, and coral-like forms including rugose and tabulate corals. Today’s reef-builders, cnidarian corals, appeared well after the great Permian-Triassic extinction event. All of these groups deposited vast quantities of limestone rock on which they live, often visible today as low mountain ranges. Reefs grow to the surface but not beyond, but upon them sand and sediments may build up, forming an island that attracts plants, then birds and other terrestrial forms of life. The sediments become cemented with the aid of rainwater too, and ‘low islands’ develop. Many islands also show their old, central volcanoes, resulting in the vast array of different combinations of coral island type. Today, however, there is a coral reef crisis due to overexploitation of a reef’s rich resources, from pollution of several kinds, and climate change.

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