Abstract. The European Alps stretch over a range of climate zones which affect the spatial distribution of snow. Previous analyses of station observations of snow were confined to regional analyses. Here, we present an Alpine-wide analysis of snow depth from six Alpine countries – Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and Switzerland – including altogether more than 2000 stations of which more than 800 were used for the trend assessment. Using a principal component analysis and k-means clustering, we identified five main modes of variability and five regions which match the climatic forcing zones: north and high Alpine, north-east, north-west, south-east, and south and high Alpine. Linear trends of monthly mean snow depth between 1971 and 2019 showed decreases in snow depth for most stations from November to May. The average trend among all stations for seasonal (November to May) mean snow depth was −8.4 % per decade, for seasonal maximum snow depth −5.6 % per decade, and for seasonal snow cover duration −5.6 % per decade. Stronger and more significant trends were observed for periods and elevations where the transition from snow to snow-free occurs, which is consistent with an enhanced albedo feedback. Additionally, regional trends differed substantially at the same elevation, which challenges the notion of generalizing results from one region to another or to the whole Alps. This study presents an analysis of station snow depth series with the most comprehensive spatial coverage in the European Alps to date.

Long-distance accessibility is a crucial element for economic development and for territorial cohesion. However, an accurate and realistic measure of accessibility must consider not only the distance or travel time of a single mode, but also the fare levels, the frequency and the interchanges of all modes available. The paper aims at answering at the question whether and where there is a problem of accessibility to Italian regions, thanks to a comprehensive measure of accessibility of the entire Italian territory. The measure used in the paper is potential accessibility, with exponential decay impedance function. Differently from similar studies, we go more in detail in the definition of impedance parameters, thanks to the availability of a transport model, including the entire Italian long distance supply (roads, coaches, long distance rail services, air services, ferries). The opportunities at destination are proxied by population, private and public sector employees. The main paper outputs are detailed maps of accessibility, much more realistic than using simple infrastructure indicators. Modal maps clarify also the different roles of the modes in the different areas of the country. Finally we draw some policy conclusions, in terms of past and future investment policies. In particular, we show that the geography of inaccessibility is more complex than the expected one, based on the rough North/South opposition.

Abstract. The European Alps stretch over a range of climate zones, which affect the spatial distribution of snow. Previous analyses of station observations of snow were confined to regional analyses. Here, we present an Alpine wide analysis of snow depth from six Alpine countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and Switzerland; including altogether more than 2000 stations. Using a principal component analysis and k-means clustering, we identified five main modes of variability and five regions, which match the climatic forcing zones: north and high Alpine, northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest. Linear trends of mean monthly snow depth between 1971 to 2019 showed decreases in snow depth for 87 % of the stations. December to February trends were on average −1.1 cm decade−1 (min, max: −10.8, 4.4; elevation range 0–1000 m), −2.5 (−25.1, 4.4; 1000–2000 m) and −0.1 (−23.3, 9.9; 2000–3000 m), with stronger trends in March to May: −0.6 (−10.9, 1.0; 0–1000 m), −4.6 (−28.1, 4.1; 1000–2000 m) and −7.6 (−28.3, 10.5; 2000–3000 m). However, regional trends differed substantially, which challenges the notion of generalizing results from one Alpine region to another or to the whole Alps. This study presents an analysis of station snow depth series with the most comprehensive spatial coverage in the European Alps to date.

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In order to promote an effective level of coordination between physical investments, technology and soft policies in transport planning, a deep knowledge of supply and demand is desirable, if not necessary. Unlike other countries, the national scale of supply and demand for the Italian transport systems as a whole is barely known and in the case of long-distance mobility, there is not a unique quantitative and geographical description available. In this paper, we present a map regarding the Italian long-distance transport supply and generalised cost simulations, for the period 2013-2014. The information shown in the map comes from a multimodal transport model, which presents the peculiarity of using real public service timetables to simulate the entirety of the Italian long-distance transport industry. This tool enables one to map the entire transport supply and to estimate the generalised costs among any route: this also allows one to identify which transport mode is better suited to make a specific trip.ARTICLE HISTORY