Drought has recently become a significant topic in the Central European region. It has been observed that the drought phenomenon has severe impacts on the agriculture, hydrology, social, and economic sectors of lowland areas. This study focuses on how drought, defined as a precipitation shortage, occurs in higher altitudes of the Tatra National Park (Tatra Mts., Slovakia), which is a significant biological reserve of the Central European fauna and flora. The main goals of this research include identifying drought variability and its characteristics over the Tatra National Park in the West Carpathians (Slovakia), especially to characterizing drought variability and its spatial pattern across the Tatra National Park from 1961 to 2010 using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and standard Geographic Information System (GIS) methods. The results showed that frequency of drought occurrence has cyclic pattern with approximately 30-year period. The spatial analyses showed that precipitation shadow of the mountains influences the risk of drought occurrence. The drought-prone areas over the mountains are also identified.
The paper is focused on the evaluation of long-term changes in the chemical composition of precipitation in the mountain forests of Slovakia. Two stations with long-term measurements of precipitation quality were selected, namely the station of the EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) network Chopok (2008 m a.s.l.) and the station of the ICP Forests (International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests) network Poľana-Hukavský grúň (850 m a.s.l.). All basic chemical components were analyzed, namely sulfur (S-SO4), nitrogen (N-NH4, N-NO3), and base cations (Ca, Mg, and K) contained in precipitation. The time changes of the individual components were statistically evaluated by the Mann–Kendall test and Kruskal–Wallis test. The results showed significant declining trends for almost all components, which can significantly affect element cycles in mountain forest ecosystems. The evaluated forty one-year period (1987 to 2018) is characterized by significant changes in the precipitation regime in Slovakia and the obtained results indicate possible directions in which the quantity and quality of precipitation in the mountainous areas of Slovakia will develop with ongoing climate change.
The aim of the work was to compare the influence of a beech (B) and a spruce stand (S) on the accumulation and melting of snow cover in comparison to an open area (O). The measurements were performed in winter seasons from 2012/13 to 2014/15 in the Hučava catchment, Poľana Biosphere Reserve (BR). We monitored hydrological and physical parameters of snow cover (snow depth – SD, snow water equivalent – SWE, snow density – D) at 13 research plots in 100 m elevation intervals (567–1,259 m a.s.l.). Within one research plot, the listed snow parameters were measured in a stand of spruce (S), beech (B), and at an open area (O).Based on the snow conditions, we found different characters of winter during the monitored period (2012/13 – snow rich, 2013/14 snow poor). For each winter, we tested the difference in the average values of SWE between the stands and the open area separately for the phase of snow accumulation and melting. The differences in the accumulation phase were found significant (
In our study we focused on advanced software applications to allow simulation of an avalanche. We used the model ELBA+, by which we tried to assess the vulnerability of mountain environments around the old mining settlement called Magurka (1036 m a.s.l.), which lies below the main ridge of Low Tatras at the end of Ľupčianská valley. The avalanche in the Ďurková valley released on 14 th March 1970 went down in history because it is still one of the largest avalanches recorded in Slovakia. Using archived data of the Avalanche Prevention Centre in Jasná, we tried its most faithful reconstruction. Then we tried to simulate an avalanche in the Viedenka valley using the same amount of snow in the release zone as it was supposed to be in 1970. Because a part of the Magurka settlement is situated at the mouth of this valley, which has more direct and shorter terrain than the valley of Ďurková, we examined the possibility of intervention by the avalanche. AbstraktV našej študií sme sa zamerali na moderné softvérové aplikácie umožňujúce simuláciu lavíny. Použili sme model ELBA+, pomocou ktorého sme snažili zhodnotiť ohrozenosť horského prostredia v okolí starej banskej osady Magurka (1 036 m n. m.), ktorá leží v závere Ľupčianskej doline pod hlavným hrebeňom Nízkych Tatier. Do histórie sa zapísala hlavne lavína v doline Ďurková zo 14. marca 1970, ktorá dodnes patrí medzi najväčšie lavíny zaznamenané na Slovensku. S použitím archívnych údajov Strediska lavínovej prevencie v Jasnej sme sa pokúsili o jej čo najvernejšiu rekonštrukciu. Následne sme sa pokúsili o simuláciu lavíny v doline Viedenka pri použití rovnakej výšky snehu v odtrhovom pásme ako sa predpokladá pri lavíne v roku 1970. Keďže časť osady Magurka je situovaných pri ústí tejto doliny, ktorá má priamejší aj kratší priebeh ako dolina Ďurková, skúmali sme možnosť jej zásahu lavínou.
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