News
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- Category: New Publication
The latest issue of the open access journal Mountain Research and Development is now available, covering topics from how ski resorts are responding to climate change to irrigation systems in the Upper Indus Basin.
Two articles in this open issue focus on ski resorts in the USA and how they can respond to climate change: one presents a voluntary environmental program for large resorts, the other analyzes climate change impacts and adaptation action. A comprehensive review of literature on adaptation action in mountain areas worldwide emphasizes the need to close the adaptation gap in mountains.
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The Interdisciplinary Centre for Mountain Research (CIRM) of the University of Lausanne, with the Labex ITTEM, hosted a hybrid workshop on 21-22 October 2021 in Sion, Switzerland, which aimed at offering a space for joint reflection and sharing of experiences on how diverse entities foster scientific research in the mountains. Representatives from the MRI were among those present.
A total of 32 individual researchers attended the workshop at the CIRM premises in Bramois, Sion, with an additional 13 researchers joining proceedings via video conference. The attendees represent some twenty institutions from Alpine countries and international networks. The objectives of this workshop were to (1) share inter- and transdisciplinary research experiences (both successes and obstacles and challenges), (2) discuss the role of this research on transformations towards sustainability, and (3) discuss and explore a possible common future between the different institutions.
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Published this month, this OECD Development Co-operation Working Paper presents approaches to strengthening the resilience of human and natural systems in mountainous areas against the impacts of climate change.
OECD Development Co-operation Working Papers cover work on understanding aid flows, strengthening aid delivery, and improving development policy.
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The American Geophysical Union (AGU) General Assembly 2021 took place December 13-17. MRI Executive Director Carolina Adler, SLC members Bryan Mark and Shawn Marshall, and Scientific Project Officer Gabrielle Vance convened the session 'Global Environmental Change in Mountain Social-Ecological Systems.'
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An unprecedented abundance of oceanic life played a crucial role in the creation of Earth's mountains, a landmark study led by scientists at the University of Aberdeen has revealed.
While the formation of mountains is usually associated with the collision of tectonic plates causing huge slabs of rock to be thrust skywards, the study has shown that this was triggered by an abundance of nutrients in the oceans 2 billion years ago which caused an explosion in planktonic life.
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Retreating glaciers in the Pacific mountains of western North America could produce around 6,150 kilometers of new Pacific salmon habitat by the year 2100, according to a new study.
Scientists have ‘peeled back the ice’ from 46,000 glaciers between southern British Columbia and south-central Alaska to look at how much potential salmon habitat would be created when underlying bedrock is exposed and new streams flow over the landscape.
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The GEO Mountains General Meeting 2021 served as a platform for exchange, bringing participants up to speed on recent developments at GEO Mountains and inviting discussion on the activities of Task Groups. GEO Mountains participants also provided key updates on ongoing projects that could contribute to the objectives of GEO Mountains.
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Mountain areas are particularly affected by global warming, but how it impacts snow avalanches remains poorly known. Researchers from INRAE, Météo France, the CNRS* and the Universities of Grenoble Alpes, Genève and Haute-Alsace have together evaluated changes in avalanche activity over nearly two-and-a-half centuries in the Vosges Mountains, combining historical analysis with statistical modelling and climate research.
Their results, published on 25 October in PNAS, show that avalanches now occur at higher altitudes than previously, with avalanche prone areas now restricted to the range’s highest elevations. This upslope migration has resulted in a sevenfold reduction of the number of avalanches, a shortening of the avalanche season, and a shrinkage in their size by comparison with the last phase of the Little Ice Age. The results also show that low to medium elevation mountain ranges such as the Vosges Mountains may serve as sentinels for the impacts of climate warming.
