Moisture content in the soil and snow in the alpine environment is an important factor, not only for environmentally oriented research, but also for decision making in agriculture and hazard management. Current observation techniques quantifying soil moisture or characterizing a snow pack often require dedicated instrumentation that measures either at point scale or at very large (satellite pix...

Climate change is altering plant species distributions globally, and warming is expected to promote uphill shifts in mountain trees. However, at many cold-edge range limits, such as alpine treelines in the western United States, tree establishment may be colimited by low temperature and low moisture, making recruitment patterns with warming difficult to predict. We measured response functions l...

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| In this paper, we use single and dualpass satellite-based interferometric radar to measure the ow magnitude of a large alpine glacier. Since the radar measurements alone are not su cient to resolve the 3-D ow direction of the glacier, several ow directions assumptions are made, and checked for mutual consistency. The assumptions that the horizontal component of ow is parallel to the medial mo...

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At the Institute for Theory and Practice of Training and Movement a model was developed to calculate the running time and the optimal trajectory in alpine skiing with the use of genetic algorithms. Up to now the results of the validation of the model were promising but the evaluation (3D-kinematic, DLT) required a lot of time. A GPS-System from the Institute for Sports and Environment offers ne...

One of the clearest predictions from the IPCC is that we can expect much less snow cover due to global warming in the 21st century, especially in the lower alpine areas. In alpine ecosystems, snow accumulation in depressions gives rise to distinct snow-bed vegetation types, assumed to play a key role in ecosystem function. A delayed plant phenology yields high-quality forage in late summer for ...

Cultivation-independent molecular phylogenetic techniques are now widely employed to examine environmental microbial diversity; however, the relationship between microbial community structure and ecosystem function is unclear. This review synthesizes cultivation-independent views of microbiological diversity with our current understanding of nutrient dynamics in alpine and arctic soils. Recentl...

The aim of this research was to determine relations between estimated motor abilities and efficiency of alpine ski learning in children ski beginners. It included 54 children between 7 and 8 years of age (average 7.44 ± 0.52 years). Children were tested for balance, agility, strength, coordination and frequency of movement on ten motor ability tests. After motor abilities were assessed, partici...