Archaeology of the Alpine space. Research on the foothills, valley systems and high mountain landscapes of the Alps

Mountain regions with complex orography are a particular challenge for regional climate simulations. High spatial resolution is required to account for the high spatial variability in meteorological conditions. This study presents a very high-resolution regional climate simulation (5 km) using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) for the central part of Europe including the Alps. Global boundaries are dynamically downscaled for the historical period 1980–2009 (ERA-Interim and MPI-ESM), and for the near future period 2020–2049 (MPI-ESM, scenario RCP4.5). Model results are compared to gridded observation datasets and to data from a dense meteorological station network in the Berchtesgaden Alps (Germany). Averaged for the Alps, the mean bias in temperature is about −0.3 °C, whereas precipitation is overestimated by +14% to +19%. R 2 values for hourly, daily and monthly temperature range between 0.71 and 0.99. Temporal precipitation dynamics are well reproduced at daily and monthly scales (R 2 between 0.36 and 0.85), but are not well captured at hourly scale. The spatial patterns, seasonal distributions, and elevation-dependencies of the climate change signals are investigated. Mean warming in Central Europe exhibits a temperature increase between 0.44 °C and 1.59 °C and is strongest in winter and spring. An elevation-dependent warming is found for different specific regions and seasons, but is absent in others. Annual precipitation changes between −4% and +25% in Central Europe. The change signals for humidity, wind speed, and incoming short-wave radiation are small, but they show distinct spatial and elevation-dependent patterns. On large-scale spatial and temporal averages, the presented 5 km RCM setup has in general similar biases as EURO-CORDEX simulations, but it shows very good model performance at the regional and local scale for daily meteorology, and, apart from wind-speed and precipitation, even for hourly values.

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Living organisms and sedimentary remains from high mountain lakes in the Alps

Journal of Limnology ◽

10.4081/jlimnol.2021.2036 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Aldo Marchetto ◽

Angela Boggero ◽

Diego Fontaneto ◽

Andrea Lami ◽

André F. Lotter ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Aquatic Organisms ◽

Mountain Lakes ◽

Biological Data ◽

Environmental Data ◽

High Mountain ◽

High Mountain Lakes ◽

Data Set ◽

Lake Bottom ◽

The Alps ◽

Living Organisms

We publish a data set of environmental and biological data collected in 2000 during the ice-free period in high mountain lakes located above the local timberline in the Alps, in Italy, Switzerland and Austria. Environmental data include coordinates, geographical attributes and detailed information on vegetation, bedrock and land use in lake catchments. Chemical analyses of a sample for each lake collected at the lake surface in Summer 2000 are also reported. Biological data include phytoplankton (floating algae and cyanobacteria), zooplankton (floating animals), macroinvertebrates (aquatic organisms visible to the naked eye living in contact with sediments on lake bottom), benthic diatoms. Diatoms, cladocera and chironomids remains and algal and bacterial pigments were also analysed in lake sediments.

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Arhitektura oživlja

ARCHALP ◽

10.30682/aa2004p ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 (N. 4 / 2020) ◽

Author(s):

Kristina Dešman ◽

Maja Ivanič

Keyword(s):

Cultural Landscape ◽

International Convention ◽

Architectural Practice ◽

Spatial Design ◽

Alpine Regions ◽

The Alps ◽

Design Selection ◽

Architectural Development ◽

Local Traditions ◽

Alpine Space

Slovenia is an alpine country: 11 percent of its territory is above 1,600 meters above sea level. The Slovenian Alps are dotted with secluded farms and clustered hamlets, and there are larger towns on the plains of the pre-Alpine regions. In the 1990s, Slovenia, together with other Alpine countries, acceded to the International Convention on the Protection of the Alps. Due to its small size, the Slovenian Alpine space is manageable, but very fragile and sensitive to various interventions, especially architectural ones. Namely, architecture directs the mentality and consciousness of people, and thus also cultural and economic development. Today, it is difficult to talk about revitalizing the Alps without mentioning tourism, which brings money to the Alpine environment and creates jobs. Unfortunately, the Slovenian alpine space is developing without a comprehensive urban and architectural development direction. Economic and tourism strategies are also vague. Individual examples of modern quality architecture are rather happy coincidence of the architect's sensitivity, experience and mastery, and the investor's cultural breadth. That is why the examples of good architectural practice that culturally and economically revive the Slovenian Alpine region and preserve its identity stand out all the more. They are distinguished by their attitude towards the environment – understanding and respect for the natural and cultural landscape, dimensions of volumes that are carefully integrated into the scenography of mountain ambiences, modern spatial design, selection of new natural materials, interpretation of traditional architectural heritage and preservation of local traditions and knowledge of our ancestors.

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Debris cover and the thinning of Kennicott Glacier, Alaska, Part A:in situ mass balance measurements

10.5194/tc-2019-174 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Leif S. Anderson ◽

Robert S. Anderson ◽

Pascal Buri ◽

William H. Armstrong

Keyword(s):

Mass Balance ◽

High Mountain ◽

Glacier Surface ◽

Ice Dynamics ◽

Air Temperatures ◽

High Resolution Imagery ◽

Debris Cover ◽

The Alps

Abstract. The mass balance of many Alaskan glaciers is perturbed by debris cover. Yet the effect of debris on glacier response to climate change in Alaska has largely been overlooked. In three companion papers we assess the role of debris, ice dynamics, and surface processes in thinning Kennicott Glacier. In Part A, we report in situ measurements from the glacier surface. In Part B, we develop a method to delineate ice cliffs using high-resolution imagery and produce distributed mass balance estimates. In Part C we explore feedbacks that contribute to glacier thinning. Here in Part A, we describe data collected in the summer of 2011. We measured debris thickness (109 locations), sub-debris melt (74), and ice cliff backwasting (60) data from the debris-covered tongue. We also measured air-temperature (3 locations) and internal-debris temperature (10). The mean debris thermal conductivity was 1.06 W (m C)−1, increasing non-linearly with debris thickness. Mean debris thicknesses increase toward the terminus and margin where surface velocities are low. Despite the relatively high air temperatures above thick debris, the melt-insulating effect of debris dominates. Sub-debris melt rates ranged from 6.5 cm d−1 where debris is thin to 1.25 cm d−1 where debris is thick near the terminus. Ice cliff backwasting rates varied from 3 to 14 cm d−1 with a mean of 7.1 cm d−1 and tended to increase as elevation declined and debris thickness increased. Ice cliff backwasting rates are similar to those measured on debris-covered glaciers in High Mountain Asia and the Alps.

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„Tu dokonało się zwycięstwo nad potężnym, zwartym łańcuchem Alp”. Semmering w przewodnikach między 1852 a 1873 rokiem

Góry, Literatura, Kultura ◽

10.19195/2084-4107.14.9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

pp. 110-120

Author(s):

Roland Tusch

Keyword(s):

Critical Reflection ◽

Qualitative Content Analysis ◽

Research Question ◽

High Mountain ◽

Construction Site ◽

Construction Work ◽

Starting Point ◽

The Alps ◽

The 19Th Century ◽

Different Levels

With the Railway Age, the perception of the landscape has changed. In Austria, the world’s first high mountain railway was built in the middle of the 19th century. It crosses the Alps at one of their eastern foothills, the Semmering. The central subject of this study is the landscape that was completely transformed by the construction of the Semmering Railway between 1852 and 1873. How was the Semmering perceived before it was discovered by the Viennese society as a region of summer resort? How were the massive changes in the Alpine landscape caused by the construction of the railway portrayed in the medium of contemporary travel guides?The sources investigated cover the period from the construction of the Semmering Railway to the discovery of the region as a summer resort. Starting with the first travel guides to the construction site and ending with the travel guides to the completed railway, seven main sources were analysed. As a starting point for the qualitative content analysis, a system of categories was developed as a search grid to filter the relevant aspects for answering the research question. The analysis follows the process of coding, paraphrasing and generalizing, and clearly reveals different levels of perception. The landscape in which the railway was built was described in extremely positive, poetic formulations. The negatively judging descriptions are particularly remarkable in the context of the travel guides, as they can be read as a critical reflection of the changed situation. Instead of regretting the destruction of nature, the victory of man or technology over nature was celebrated. From the comparison of the travel guides to the construction site and those to the completed railway, the progress of the construction work is clearly readable. The magnificence of the construction project was beyond question from the very beginning. The travel guides allow one to comprehend this, at the time rather young, transformation of the landscape; they open up a differentiated view of the landscape.

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Manipolazioni metasemiche del patrimonio

ARCHALP ◽

10.30682/aa1902a ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 NS (Issue 2 Ns, July 2019) ◽

pp. 13-34

Author(s):

Antonio De Rossi ◽

Roberto Dini

Keyword(s):

Cultural Landscape ◽

The Past ◽

Development Scenarios ◽

Design Culture ◽

Constructive Process ◽

New Development ◽

The Alps ◽

Critical Revision ◽

Operational Practices ◽

Alpine Space

The construction of a renewed habitability of the contemporary Alpine space requires a profound critical revision of the ways of looking and of the cultures concerning the theme of re-use of the built heritage. Over the last few decades, a sort of crystallization of imaginaries, operational practices and development ideas has emerged around the two terms of re-use and heritage and their ways of interaction, which today is likely to be an obstacle to the construction of new development scenarios for the Alpine region. Trying to imagine new values and meanings of the concepts of reuse and heritage, however, requires the questioning of those patrimonialization cultures that have served as the ultimate framework for the project of the Alpine space. The essay reconstructs those design processes that, starting from a renewed productive vision of the mountain, attempt today to overcome a hypostatized vision of the conventional cultural landscape produced by the patrimonialist paradigm, to embrace a transformative attitude of the heritage based on the materic character of the basic elements of the Alpine space. In particular we want to underline how the contemporary design culture in the Alps is directed to the development of synthetic languages aimed at capturing the stratified and diachronic dimension of the built landscape through metasemic cognitive and interpretative practices. It is an attitude that, against a background of the change in perspective brought about by climate change and environmental issues, allows the maximization of the opportunities and physical resources recovered in the place, perfectly in line with the aptitude for the continuous re-use of the Alpine civilizations of the past, which focuses on the awareness of participating in a constructive process of transformation of the long lasting Alpine territory.

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Communicating Climate Change to broad public through Educations - Project KlimaAlps

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-4690 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Cornelia Baumann ◽

Inga Beck

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Scientific Information ◽

Environmental Research ◽

Background Information ◽

High Mountain ◽

Research Station ◽

Human Beings ◽

Mountain Areas ◽

The Alps

<p>Education is key in order to create a generation that thinks and acts sustainable and that considers nature as one of the most important good.Within the three years Interreg Project &#8216;KlimaAlps&#8217; (www.klimaalps.eu) &#8211; making climate change visible - one major task is the establishment of a training for educators, to become a certified &#8216;Climate-Pedagogue&#8217; for the alpine region. The &#8216;Climate-Pedagogue&#8217;-training contains background information of climate change in the Alps and a variety of innovative educational tools and methods. It covers aspects of the high mountain areas, rivers and lakes, human beings, agriculture as well as moors. &#160;The project is managed by the &#8216;Energiewende Oberland&#8217;; five additional partners from Austria and Bavaria are responsible for e. g. a high quality of the taught scientific information (Environmental Research Station Schneefernerhaus), the didactical input (University of Innsbruck, Department of Geography), the outreach activities and the implementation (Naturpark Karwendel, Klimab&#252;ndnis Ober&#246;sterreich, Landratsamt Garmisch-Partenkirchen).&#160;During the last one and half years, the concept for the &#8216;Climate-Pedagogue&#8217;- training was worked out in cooperation with other environmental facilities and in March 2021 the first lectures of a pilot run with over 30 selected participants were held. In total there will be two runs in 2021 in order to evaluate the recent version of the training as good as possible.&#160;The next and long-term steps will be the firm establishment of a chargeable &#8216;Climate-Pedagogue&#8217; &#8211; Training for every interested person for at least the coming ten years, as well as the strengthening and growing of the network.&#160;The presentation will give a short overview about the entire project as well as details about the &#8216;Climate-Pedagogue&#8217; &#8211; Training and some first impressions of the already hold lectures in 2021.</p>

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В ПОИСКАХ КОМПРОМИССА ЗАПОВЕДНОСТИ И ФУНКЦИОНАЛЬНОСТИ ЛАНДШАФТОВ

EurasianUnionScientists ◽

10.31618/esu.2413-9335.2020.6.81.1162 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (12(81)) ◽

pp. 4-8

Author(s):

Р. Калов ◽

Т. Тогузаев

Keyword(s):

Empirical Studies ◽

Practical Importance ◽

High Mountain ◽

Anthropogenic Pressure ◽

Forest Park ◽

Natural Processes ◽

Mountain Valley ◽

Mountain Landscapes ◽

Economic Zones ◽

The Impact

The growing interest in mountainous areas is accompanied by the expansion of the process of involving unique landscapes in economic circulation, which often leads to a disruption of the natural balance. Consequently, the need for a change in the inertial paradigm, reorientation of the development of society to the path of constructing a sustainable system of environmental management is becoming more acute. This idea can be realized through the creation of ecological and economic zones, which imply the implementation of the concept of landscape organization and proportionality on the basis of the conservation and functionality of mountain landscapes. Background. The main purpose of the article is to actualize the urgent need to find a compromise between the market aspirations of various categories of nature users and the system of protected areas in the mountainous zone of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR). To achieve this goal, the following tasks were solved: identification of the peculiarities of mountain valley landscapes in relation to the concepts of "threshold" and "capacity"; analysis of the possibilities of ecological optimization of the use of functional landscapes; Евразийский Союз Ученых (ЕСУ) # 12(81), 2020 5 search for a compromise option for co-development of the main types of landscapes that are of practical importance. Methods. In accordance with the intended goal and tasks, the authors relied on the following research methods: using the cartographic method, the centers of the impact of large hazardous natural processes on functional landscapes were considered and their paragenetic connections with adjacent fragments of geosystems were analyzed; the route method made it possible to trace the indicative connections between disturbed geo-complexes and anthropogenic pressure on the mountain-valley complexes Bashil - Chegem section of the high-mountain reserve; based on the predictive method, it is recommended to impose an additional tourist and recreational function on mountain-meadow landscapes; on the basis of an experimental method, the achievement of a critical level of sparseness and death of ageold pines within the forest park landscapes of the Elbrus region was confirmed. This publication is based on theoretical and empirical studies of Russian and foreign scientists: Isachenko A.G., Kochurova B.I., Beruchashvili N.L., supplemented by the specification of the territory under consideration.

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