Principal components analysis, followed by K-means cluster analysis, was used to detect variations in the timing and magnitude of Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. growth releases attributed to mountain pine beetle outbreaks in 31 stands of central British Columbia. Four major growth release patterns were identified from 1970 to 2000. Variations in the timing of growth releases among clustered sta...

Here, we review an ensemble of observations that point towards a global increase of erosion rates in regions of elevated mountain belts, or otherwise high relief, since the onset of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation about 2–3 Ma. During that period of Earth’s history, atmospheric CO2 concentrations may have dropped, and global climate cooled and evolved towards high-amplitude oscillating condition...

[1] Most climate models suggest amplification of global warming in high mountains, but observations are less clear. Using comprehensive, homogeneity-adjusted temperature records from over 1000 high elevation stations across the globe, we examine the causes of changing temperature trends with elevation, assessing the roles of free atmospheric change, topography (exposure and aspect), and cryosph...

[1] Tropical montane cloud forests are characterized by persistent immersion in clouds, an important source of moisture during the dry season. Future changes in temperature and precipitation could alter cloud cover at the vegetation level and seriously affect mountain ecosystems. A regional climate modeling study that focuses on changes in the distributions of temperature and precipitation in C...

Human alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a severe hepatic disease caused by Echinococcus multilocularis. In France, the definitive and intermediate hosts of E. multilocularis (foxes and rodents, respectively) have a broader geographical distribution than that of human AE. In this two-part study, we describe the link between AE incidence in France between 1982 and 2007 and climatic and landscape ch...

In a warming climate, temperature-sensitive plants must move toward colder areas, that is, higher latitude or altitude, by seed dispersal [1]. Considering that the temperature drop with increasing altitude (-0.65°C per 100 m altitude) is one hundred to a thousand times larger than that of the equivalent latitudinal distance [2], vertical seed dispersal is probably a key process for plant escape...

Using a high-resolution regional climate model RegCM3, station and satellite observations, we have studied the spatial heterogeneity of climate variability over Java Island, Indonesia. Besides the well-known anomalous dry conditions that characterize the dry and transition seasons during an El Niño year, analysis of regional model output reveals a wet mountainous south versus dry northern plain...

A general circulation model using a full-Galerkin method is developed for the simulation of atmospheric climate and variability. Two variants of the Galerkin method, the spectral-transform method and the finite-element method, are used in this model for the horizontal and vertical representation, respectively. The baroclinic dynamics of this model are examined by performing linear normal mode a...

Mountain permafrost is highly sensitive to changing air temperatures because they affect the thawing depth of the annual active layer, as well as the time and speed of the refreezing process, mainly in the winter. The Long Term Ecological Research Site (LTER) Niwot Ridge and the Critical Zone Observatory Site (CZO) Green Lakes in Colorado, USA, with their high alpine tundra climate and vegetati...

By the end of the 20th century, the onset of spring in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California has been occurring on average three weeks earlier than historic records. Superimposed on this trend is an increase in the presence of highly anomalous "extreme" years, where spring arrives either significantly late or early. The timing of the onset of continuous snowpack coupled to the date at ...