Diurnal mountain wind systems are local thermally driven wind systems that form over mountainous terrain and are produced by the buoyancy effects associated with the diurnal cycle of heating and cooling of the lower atmospheric layers. This chapter reviews the present scientific understanding of diurnal mountain wind systems, focusing on research findings published since 1988. Slope flows are e...

The U.S. Department of Interior has identified the Truckee River basin as highly likely for potential water supply conflict in the future. A critical water supply to the Truckee River is outflow from Lake Tahoe, and surface and groundwater contributions from the Martis Valley hydrographic area. This paper highlights the development of an integrated surface water and groundwater model, GSFLOW, i...

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) is relatively new. Its optical sensors are capable of making high-resolution digital surface models (DSMs). For the first time, the task of constructing a regional-scale inventory of glacial lakes based on ALOS data has been undertaken. This study presents the data-processing methods and the results of validation and analysis on the ALOS-based glacia...

High-mountain lakes are unique ecosystems with very few examples at tropical latitudes for experimentation. A two-year, high-frequency meteorological and water-column dataset from the crater of Nevado de Toluca volcano, in Mexico, an altitude about 4200 m above sea level, allowed study temporal changes thermal structure, water balance Lakes El Sol La Luna, separated by 500 a lava dome. Annual f...

The Tibetan plateau and surrounding mountain ranges contain the largest amount of ice outside the polar region. The Tibetan plateau also contains more than one thousand lakes and is the origin of a large part of the water resources of South and East Asia, the most densely populated regions on earth. Recent studies concluded that the glacial area on the Tibetan plateau and surroundings has decre...

The photochemical release of inorganic nitrogen from dissolved organic matter is an important source of bio-available nitrogen (N) in N-limited aquatic ecosystems. We conducted photochemical experiments and used mathematical models based on pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics to quantify the photochemical transformations of individual N species and their seasonal effects on N cycling in a moun...

Correspon Abstract – Current projections predict an intensifi cation of hydrological drought as a consequence of climate change, but we know very little about the potential effects on aquatic communities. La Baña (SW León Province, Spain) is a mountain lake suffering from increased water seepage due to geological reasons. This has caused since 2005 a situation of hydrological drought, with pron...

A comprehensive glacier–glacial lake inventory was developed for the Bhutan Himalayas based on satellite observations between 1987–1990 and 2006–2011. In total, 733 lakes (covering 82.6 km2) were delineated between 4000 and 6000 m a.s.l. and their relationships to associated glaciers were documented. Using this new inventory, the scale and potential for glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF) bas...

Historical records of total organic carbon (TOC), black carbon (BC), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were reconstructed in dated sediment cores from four nearby lakes in central Switzerland. In the sub-Alpine Lake Thun, located at 558 m a.s.l., the proximity to anthropogenic emission sources is reflected in higher input of BC and PAHs into sediments with fluxes only slightly decreas...

Photo 1: Ultraoligotrophic Lake Redon (Central Pyrenees Mountains, Spain) with the ENEX experimental enclosures deployed in central part. Limnological research this high-mountain lake (2232 m above sea level) has been ongoing for more than 30 years. credit: Pau Giménez-Grau. This photograph illustrates article “Homeostasis and non-linear shift stoichiometry of P-limited planktonic communities” ...