Winter Tourism and Climate Change in the Alps: An Assessment of Resource Consumption, Snow Reliability, and Future Snowmaking Potential

Rixen, Christian; Teich, Michaela; Lardelli, Corina; Gallati, David; Pohl, Mandy; Pütz, Marco; Bebi, Peter

doi:10.1659/mrd-journal-d-10-00112.1

Cited by 114 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Higher atmospheric humidity at near-zero temperatures may also lead to increased icing formation, which can be hazardous to high seas fishery, forestry, and manmade infrastructure (Bulygina et al 2015). We show here that warm events will most likely become more frequent in the NAR in the future, which can in turn have negative consequences for the winter tourism industry, as reported from the European Alps (Rixen et al 2011), northern Sweden (Moen and Fredman 2007), and Svalbard (Hansen et al 2014). Moreover, most local residents prefer some snow during the polar night, as it lightens up the landscape.…”

Section: B Winter Warming Trends In the Twenty-first Centurymentioning

confidence: 56%

Changes in Winter Warming Events in the Nordic Arctic Region

et al. 2016

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In recent years extreme winter warming events have been reported in arctic areas. These events are characterized as extraordinarily warm weather episodes, occasionally combined with intense rainfall, causing ecological disturbance and challenges for arctic societies and infrastructure. Ground-ice formation due to winter rain or melting prevents ungulates from grazing, leads to vegetation browning, and impacts soil temperatures. The authors analyze changes in frequency and intensity of winter warming events in the Nordic arctic region-northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland, including the arctic islands Svalbard and Jan Mayen. This study identifies events in the longest available records of daily temperature and precipitation, as well as in future climate scenarios, and performs analyses of long-term trends for climate indices aimed to capture these individual events. Results show high frequencies of warm weather events during the 1920s-30s and the past 15 years , causing weak positive trends over the past 90 years . In contrast, strong positive trends in occurrence and intensity for all climate indices are found for the past 50 years with, for example, increased rates for number of melt days of up to 9.2 days decade 21 for the arctic islands and 3-7 days decade 21 for the arctic mainland. Regional projections for the twenty-first century indicate a significant enhancement of the frequency and intensity of winter warming events. For northern Scandinavia, the simulations indicate a doubling in the number of warming events, compared to 1985-2014, while the projected frequencies for the arctic islands are up to 3 times higher.

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Section: B Winter Warming Trends In the Twenty-first Centurymentioning

confidence: 56%

Changes in Winter Warming Events in the Nordic Arctic Region

et al. 2016

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“…Each of these phenomena will potentially cause severe impacts on tourism, both directly, e.g., through impacts on infrastructure, such as cable railways, and indirectly, e.g., through a drop in the number of visitors due to fear of natural hazards (Nöthiger and Elsasser 2004). In addition, snow reliability is a crucial factor for winter tourism, such as in Saas-Fee, and it will alter with climatic change (Rixen et al 2011). …”

Section: The Study Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructing Consistent Multiscale Scenarios by Transdisciplinary Processes: the Case of Mountain Regions Facing Global Change

Brand¹,

Seidl²,

Le³

et al. 2013

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Alpine regions in Europe, in particular, face demanding local challenges, e.g., the decline in the agriculture and timber industries, and are also prone to global changes, such as in climate, with potentially severe impacts on tourism. We focus on the Visp region in the Upper Valais, Switzerland, and ask how the process of stakeholder involvement in research practice can contribute to a better understanding of the specific challenges and future development of mountainous regions under global change. Based on a coupled human-environment system (HES) perspective, we carried out a formative scenario analysis to develop a set of scenarios for the future directions of the Visp region. In addition, we linked these regional scenarios to context scenarios developed at the global and Swiss levels via an external consistency analysis. This method allows the coupling of both the scenario building process and the scenarios as such. We used a functional-dynamic approach to theory-practice cooperation, i.e., the involvement of key stakeholders from, for example, tourism, forestry, and administration, differed in type and intensity during the steps of the research process. In our study, we experienced strong problem awareness among the stakeholders concerning the impacts of global change and local challenges. The guiding research question was commonly defined and problem ownership was more or less balanced. We arrived at six multiscale scenarios that open up future trajectories for the Visp region, and present generic strategies to cope with global and local challenges. The results show that local identity, spatial planning, community budget, and demographic development are important steering elements in the region's future development. We suggest that method-guided transdisciplinary processes result in a richer picture and a more systemic understanding, which enable a discussion of critical and surprising issues.

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“…Snow is an important resource in alpine regions not only for tourism (e.g., Elsasser and Bürki, 2002;Nöthiger and Elsasser, 2004;Rixen et al, 2011) but also for hydropower generation, water supply (e.g., Marty, 2008;Farinotti et al, 2012) and ecological aspects of the local mountain flora and fauna (e.g., Wipf et al, 2009). Snow is also important in the context of natural hazards, such as avalanches prevention or flood forecasts in spring and early summer for the valleys downstream.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Snow depth mapping in high-alpine catchments using digital photogrammetry

Bühler¹,

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Information on snow depth and its spatial distribution is crucial for numerous applications in snow and avalanche research as well as in hydrology and ecology. Today, snow depth distributions are usually estimated using point measurements performed by automated weather stations and observers in the field combined with interpolation algorithms. However, these methodologies are not able to capture the high spatial variability of the snow depth distribution present in alpine terrain. Continuous and accurate snow depth mapping has been successfully performed using laser scanning but this method can only cover limited areas and is expensive. We use the airborne ADS80 optoelectronic scanner, acquiring stereo imagery with 0.25 m spatial resolution to derive digital surface models (DSMs) of winter and summer terrains in the neighborhood of Davos, Switzerland. The DSMs are generated using photogrammetric image correlation techniques based on the multispectral nadir and backward-looking sensor data. In order to assess the accuracy of the photogrammetric products, we compare these products with the following independent data sets acquired simultaneously: (a) manually measured snow depth plots; (b) differential Global Navigation Satellite System (dGNSS) points; (c) terrestrial laser scanning (TLS); and (d) ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data sets. We demonstrate that the method presented can be used to map snow depth at 2 m resolution with a vertical depth accuracy of ±30 cm (root mean square error) in the complex topography of the Alps. The snow depth maps presented have an average accuracy that is better than 15 % compared to the average snow depth of 2.2 m over the entire test site.

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Winter Tourism and Climate Change in the Alps: An Assessment of Resource Consumption, Snow Reliability, and Future Snowmaking Potential

Cited by 114 publications

References 17 publications

Changes in Winter Warming Events in the Nordic Arctic Region

Changes in Winter Warming Events in the Nordic Arctic Region

Constructing Consistent Multiscale Scenarios by Transdisciplinary Processes: the Case of Mountain Regions Facing Global Change

Snow depth mapping in high-alpine catchments using digital photogrammetry

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