It seems like every year a report is released documenting the scale of snow or ice loss in the Arctic. But, what about the climate significance of rising temperatures in snowy regions nowhere near the Poles? A recent study from researchers at University of Lausanne and the University of Basel has explored this exact question as it pertains to the European Alps.
In a first-of-its-kind study, published in the journal Science, the researchers used satellite imagery to investigate changes in Alpine snow cover over the last 38 years. As climate change has warmed the region, more precipitation has fallen as rain instead of snow.
But the climate-driven changes to the region did not just manifest snow loss: While the researchers did find that Alpine snow cover had decreased significantly in about 10 percent of the observed area, vegetation levels had increased significantly in 77 percent of this observed area. This result even surprised the study’s authors. Sabine Rumpf, lead author of the study and assistant professor at the University of Basel, noted that “The scale of the change has turned out to be absolutely massive in the Alps.”
— source grist.org | Chad Small | Jun 06, 2022