News

A new report into the impacts of climate change on the Earth's cryosphere combines the findings of the two recent IPCC Special Reports with other studies published since. The report's conclusion? Failure to choose policies now that keep global warming below 1.5°C will result in a cascading series of disasters.

Cryosphere1.5°, Where Urgency and Ambition Meet is a report published by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, authored and reviewed by over 40 IPCC and other cryosphere scientists. It was launched at the COP25 in Madrid on 12 December 2019, and combines the findings of the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ºC and the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), plus studies that have been published since. 

During the UN Climate Change Conference COP25, the MRI celebrated International Mountain Day 2019 on 11 December by raising a voice for mountains at this important event. 

The UN Climate Change Conference COP 25 (2 – 13 December 2019) took place in Madrid, Spain under the Presidency of the Government of Chile and with logistical support from the Government of Spain. The conference was designed to take the next crucial steps in the UN climate change process. Following agreement on the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement at COP 24 in Poland last year, a key objective of COP25 was to take steps towards the full operationalization of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Research provides new insight on mountain glacier–derived water resource systems, impacting up to 1.9 billion people globally.

Scientists from around the world have assessed the planet’s 78 mountain glacier-based water systems and, for the first time, ranked them in order of their importance to adjacent lowland communities, as well as their vulnerability to future environmental and socioeconomic changes. These systems, known as mountain water towers, store and transport water via glaciers, snow packs, lakes, and streams, thereby supplying invaluable water resources to 1.9 billion people globally—roughly a quarter of the world’s population.

The pace of contemporary rise in greenhouse gas concentrations is unprecedented in climate history over the past 66 million years and weather extremes are the 'new normal,' according to some of the latest findings in climate science compiled in an easy-to-read guide for negotiators, policymakers, and media for the COP25 summit in Madrid. MRI Executive Director Carolina Adler was among the publication's contributing authors. 

10 New Insights in Climate Science was presented to UNFCCCs Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) in Madrid, 6 December, 2019, and distributed to negotiators and journalists.

The report highlights the most recent advances over the last 12 months in the scientific understanding of the drivers, effects, and impacts of climate change, as well as societal responses. It is the third annual publication by Future Earth and The Earth League, two major international organizations representing networks of global sustainability scientists. It summarizes recent Earth-system science, policy, public health, and economic research.

Co-authored by MRI SLC member Andreas Muhar and with a contribution from MRI Co-PI Rolf Weingartner, this richly illustrated publication presents the result of a major geographic project with contributions by more than 140 experts from six Alpine countries.

The landscapes of the Alps are substantially shaped by their rivers - human use of the Alpine region is closely linked to the challenges of dealing with rivers and streams. This book offers a vivid and comprehensive survey of the manifold ways in which Alpine rivers are important from a range of different perspectives.

During GEO Week 2019, a workshop focused on GEO initiatives’ contributions to assessing ecosystem changes and vulnerabilities due to climate change was held. Among the organizers was the MRI co-led GEO Global Network for Observations and Information in Mountain Environments (GEO-GNOME), with the MRI in attendance to represent this important initiative for our changing mountains.

Ecosystems face multiple stressors from human activities and climate change. In order to address these stressors and sustain ecosystem benefits, evidence-informed conservation, management, and restoration policies are urgently needed. To aid this decision-making, the effective monitoring, modelling, and understanding of the state of and trends in ecosystem conditions, functions, and services under current and future stressors is essential.

New research published in the journal PLOS ONE finds that rising temperatures are causing perennial snowbanks in Mongolia's Sayan Mountains to melt – putting the people and animals they support at risk. 

Deep in the Sayan Mountains of northern Mongolia, patches of ice rest year-round in the crooks between hills.

Locals in this high tundra call the perennial snowbanks munkh mus, or eternal ice. They’re central to lives of the region’s traditional reindeer herders, who depend on the snowy patches for clean drinking water and to cool down their hoofed charges in summer months.

Now, a new study led by archaeologist William Taylor suggests that this eternal ice, and the people and animals it supports, may be at risk because of soaring global temperatures.

The MRI-funded synthesis workshop 'WEATHER' brought researchers from different countries together in Lima, Peru in order to discuss the scope, strengths, and weaknesses of both traditional and innovative survey methods used to study glacier retreat and dynamics in the Andes, and to identify future research priorities.

The Andes contain a great number of tropical glaciers, and the meltwater they supply is an essential resource for people downstream who depend on it for irrigation and sanitation. Understanding glacier processes and implementing adequate science-based adaptation strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change requires an interdisciplinary approach. The synthesis workshop 'WEATHER: a scientific approach to Water sEcurity and climATe cHange adaptation in pEruvian glacieRs' was an opportunity for investigators from different countries to come together to share their research, methodologies, and objectives, as well as serving as a networking platform for potential collaborations.

Newsletter subscription

Login