The recent evolution of an Alpine glacier used for summer skiing (Vedretta Piana, Stelvio Pass, Italy)

Diolaiuti, Guglielmina; Smiraglia, Claudio; Pelfini, Manuela; Belò, M.; Pavan, M.; Vassena, G.

doi:10.1016/j.coldregions.2005.11.006

Cited by 26 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…in Monte Pora, Passo della Presolana, Colere, Lizzola, Spiazzi di Gromo), and skiing activity is widely diffused within Italian Alps and pre-Alps, so that decreased snow cover thickness as projected may affect local economy based upon tourism (e.g. Diolaiuti et al, 2006). Rivers from the Alps of Lombardy region, including Serio, are heavily exploited for agriculture within the Po valley, among the most productive agricultural areas within Europe (viz for rice, wheat, maize, etc..), irrigated during Summer with surface water from the Alps.…”

Section: Climate Projections and Downscalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change will affect hydrological regimes in the Alps

Confortola¹,

Soncini²,

Bocchiola³

2013

rga

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Climate change will affect hydrological cycle and water resources in the Alps. Here we sketched potential future (2045-2054) hydrological cycle under prospective climate change scenarios within an Alpine river of Italy: Serio (ca. 300 km2). Therein, hydrology is highly dependent upon snow cover cycle, very likely to be affected by climate changes. We set up and validated a hydrological model able to mimic water resources regime of the river. We then use downscaled future temperature and precipitation from two general circulation models GCMs to feed the hydrological model and obtain projected hydrological regimes, at flow sections at different altitudes within the catchment. The scenarios and storylines from the adopted GCMs differ from one another with respect to projected precipitation and temperature amount, but agree upon decrease of the former and increase of the latter. All hydrological scenarios agree upon prospective shrinkage of seasonal snow cover due to increased temperature, and upon prospective increase of Fall and Winter stream flows as due to increased liquid precipitation. Lower discharges are projected during Spring and Summer, in view of decreased rainfall and snow cover at thaw, and the CCSM3 model provides shifting of thaw season to one month earlier. Higher catchments are more impacted because Winter flows increase more proportionally. © 2013 Journal of Alpine Research

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Section: Climate Projections and Downscalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change will affect hydrological regimes in the Alps

Confortola¹,

Soncini²,

Bocchiola³

2013

rga

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show abstract

“…Monte Pora, Passo della Presolana, Colere, Lizzola, Spiazzi di Gromo) che è largamente diffusa nelle Alpi e nelle pre-Alpi italiane; la diminuzione della copertura nivale prospettata potrebbe quindi influenzare l'economia turistica locale (es. Diolaiuti et al, 2006). I fiumi delle Alpi lombarde, incluso il Serio, sono largamente sfruttati per l'agricoltura della valle del Po, una delle aree agricole più produttive d'Europa (per il riso, frumento, mais, ecc.…”

Section: Discussione 13unclassified

Gli effetti del cambiamento climatico sul regime idrologico nelle Alpi

Confortola¹,

Soncini²,

Bocchiola³

2013

rga

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“…One positive effect of the years with negative mass balances was the decrease of ice flow velocities, which led to a reduction of the number and size of crevasses (Colgan et al, 2016;Fischer, 2010;Pelto and Hedlund, 2001) in glacier ski resorts (e.g. Fischer et al, 2011a;Diolaiuti et al, 2006). Therefore, mass balance management in glacier ski resorts has three aims:…”

Section: Ski Resortmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most resorts open during summer for hikers and mountaineers only. Diolaiuti et al (2006) investigated glacier evolution and summer skiing at Vadretta Piana (Stelvio Pass, Italy). They noticed that, although the glacier has receded, single years of exceptional good conditions for glacier summer skiing can still result in a high number of skiers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local reduction of decadal glacier thickness loss through mass balance management in ski resorts

Fischer

Stocker-Waldhuber

2016

The Cryosphere

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Abstract. For Austrian glacier ski resorts, established in the 1970s and 1980s during a period of glacier advance, negative mass balances with resulting glacier area loss and decrease in surface elevation present an operational challenge. Glacier cover, snow farming, and technical snow production were introduced as adaptation measures based on studies on the effect of these measures on energy and mass balance. After a decade of the application of the various measures, we studied the transition from the proven short-term effects of the measures on mass balance to long-term effects on elevation changes. Based on lidar digital elevation models and differential GPS measurements, decadal surface elevation changes in 15 locations with mass balance management were compared to those without measures (apart from piste grooming) in five Tyrolean ski resorts on seven glaciers. The comparison of surface elevation changes presents clear local differences in mass change, and it shows the potential to retain local ice thickness over 1 decade. Locally up to 21.1 m ± 0.4 m of ice thickness was preserved on mass balance managed areas compared to non-maintained areas over a period of 9 years. In this period, mean annual thickness loss in 15 of the mass balance managed profiles is 0.54 ± 0.04 m yr −1 lower (−0.23 ± 0.04 m yr −1 on average) than in the respective reference areas (−0.78 ± 0.04 m yr −1 ).At two of these profiles the surface elevation was preserved altogether, which is promising for a sustainable maintenance of the infrastructure at glacier ski resorts. In general the results demonstrate the high potential of the combination of mass balance management by snow production and glacier cover, not only in the short term but also for multi-year application to maintain the skiing infrastructure.

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The recent evolution of an Alpine glacier used for summer skiing (Vedretta Piana, Stelvio Pass, Italy)

Cited by 26 publications

References 2 publications

Climate change will affect hydrological regimes in the Alps

Climate change will affect hydrological regimes in the Alps

Gli effetti del cambiamento climatico sul regime idrologico nelle Alpi

Local reduction of decadal glacier thickness loss through mass balance management in ski resorts

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