Mountain regions have been identi fied as especially vulnerable areas to climate change. Changes in snowfall, glacier retreat and shifts in biodiversity amount and distribution are some examples of the sensitivity of mountain ecosystems. Moreover, in many mountain economies, reliable snow cover plays a key role as an important resource for the winter tourism industry, the main income source and...

Mountains are essential sources of freshwater for our world, but their role in global water resources could well be significantly altered by climate change. How well do we understand these potential changes today, and what are implications for water resources management, climate change adaptation, and evolving water policy? To answer above questions, we have examined 11 case study regions with ...

This contribution provides an overview of the intricacies of mountain climates, particularly as they pertain to the European Alps. Examples will be given of issues that are related to climatic change as observed in the Alps during the course of the 20th century, and some of the physical mechanisms that may be responsible for those changes. The discussion will then focus on the problems related ...

Taibai Mountain is the highest peak of Qinling Mountain Ridge, a climate and geographical demarcation of the southern and northern China. Collembolan species of family Entomobryidae are reported from this region for the first time in this paper. Two new species, Homidia taibaiensis sp. n. and Sinella triseta sp. n. of Entomobryinae are described. Illustrations and differences with similar speci...

Mountains provide as much as 90-100% of the freshwater to surrounding basins in arid and semiarid regions because of their distinctive and complex topography, and the consequent effects on precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration (ET). One of the primary objectives of this dissertation is to estimate mountain-block recharge (MBR), an important component of the mountain contribution to groundwat...

The physical processes that establish the cave temperature are briefly discussed, showing that cave temperature is generally strictly connected with the external climate. The Global Climatic changes can then influence also the underground climate. It is shown that the mountain thermal inertia causes a delay between the two climates and then a thermal unbalance between the cave and the atmospher...

Introduction Who has not stood in awe gazing at a mighty mountain glacier? Worldwide, these white giants of high altitude are shrinking due to rising temperatures (Fig. 1).1 Images of receding mountain glaciers have become as emblematic of climate change as are pictures of polar bears in search of solid ice. Climate impacts occurring at high altitudes and high latitudes also have in common that...

Mountain glaciers respond directly to changes in precipitation and temperature, thus their margin extent is a high-sensitivity climate proxy. Here, we present a robust (10)Be chronology for the glacier maximum areal extent of central Spain paleoglaciers dated at 26.1 ± 1.3 ka BP. These glaciers reached their maximum extent several thousand years earlier than those from central Europe due to the...

Tropical highland regions are experiencing rapid climate change. In these regions the adaptation challenge is complicated by the fact that elevation contrasts and dissected topography produce diverse climatic conditions that are often accompanied by significant ecological and agricultural diversity within a relatively small region. Such is the case for the Choke Mountain watersheds, in the Blue...

Controls on the sensitivity of mountain snowpack accumulation to climate warming (lS) are investigated. This is accomplished using two idealized, physically based models of mountain snowfall to simulate snowpack accumulation for the Cascade Mountains under current and warmed climates. Both models are forced from sounding observations. The first model uses the linear theory (LT) model of orograp...