Climate changes and their elevational patterns in the mountains of the world.

Autor(en)

Nicolas C. Pepin, E. Arnone, Andreas Gobiet, Klaus Haslinger, S. Kotlarski, Claudia Notarnicola, Elisa Palazzi, Petra Seibert, Stefano Serafin, Wolfgang Schöner, Silvia Terzago, James M. Thornton, Mathias Vuille, Carolina Adler

Abstrakt

Quantifying rates of climate change in mountain regions is of considerable interest, not least because mountains are viewed as climate "hotspots" where change can anticipate or amplify what is occurring elsewhere. Accelerating mountain climate change has extensive environmental impacts, including depletion of snow/ice reserves, critical for the world's water supply. Whilst the concept of elevation-dependent warming (EDW), whereby warming rates are stratified by elevation, is widely accepted, no consistent EDW profile at the global scale has been identified. Past assessments have also neglected elevation-dependent changes in precipitation. In this comprehensive analysis, both in situ station temperature and precipitation data from mountain regions, and global gridded data sets (observations, reanalyses, and model hindcasts) are employed to examine the elevation dependency of temperature and precipitation changes since 1900. In situ observations in paired studies (using adjacent stations) show a tendency toward enhanced warming at higher elevations. However, when all mountain/lowland studies are pooled into two groups, no systematic difference in high versus low elevation group warming rates is found. Precipitation changes based on station data are inconsistent with no systematic contrast between mountain and lowland precipitation trends. Gridded data sets (CRU, GISTEMP, GPCC, ERA5, and CMIP5) show increased warming rates at higher elevations in some regions, but on a global scale there is no universal amplification of warming in mountains. Increases in mountain precipitation are weaker than for low elevations worldwide, meaning reduced elevation-dependency of precipitation, especially in midlatitudes. Agreement on elevation-dependent changes between gridded data sets is weak for temperature but stronger for precipitation.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Meteorologie und Geophysik

Externe Organisation(en)

University of Portsmouth, Università degli Studi di Torino, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bundesamt für Meteorologie und Klimatologie, Eurac Research, Universität Bern, State University of New York, Albany, Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG), Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien

Journal

Reviews of Geophysics

Band

60

Anzahl der Seiten

40

ISSN

8755-1209

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1029/2020RG000730

Publikationsdatum

03-2022

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

105205 Klimawandel, 105204 Klimatologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Geophysics

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 13 – Maßnahmen zum Klimaschutz

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/9e71396b-22c2-495e-9735-51fcc7e847a3