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Descripción
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| The Alps play a crucial role in accumulating and supplying water to the continent. Recognised as the 'water towers of Europe', these mountains host most of the headwaters of the Danube, Rhine, Po and Rhone rivers; as such as, they deliver vital ecosystem services both within and beyond the region, underpinning social and economic wellbeing in vast lowland areas. Troublingly, the alpine climate has changed significantly during the past century, with temperatures increasing more than twice the global average. This makes alpine mountains especially vulnerable to changes in the hydrological cycle and decreases in snow and glacier cover, which are already happening. Global climate change threatens is altering the alpine hydrological system drastically. Projected changes in precipitation, snow-cover patterns and glacier storage will further alter runoff regimes, leading to more droughts in summer, floods and landslides in winter and higher inter-annual variability. Climate change may worsen current water resource issues and lead to increased risk of conflicts between users in the alpine region (particularly the south) but also outside the Alps where droughts are also expected to become more frequent. Observed and projected reductions in permafrost are also expected to increase natural hazards and damage to high altitude infrastructure. | |
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Internacional
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Si |
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DOI
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Edición del Libro
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Editorial del Libro
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Colegio de Ingenieros de Montes |
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ISBN
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978-84-617-1377-6 |
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Serie
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Título del Libro
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Climate Change and Restoration of Degraded Land |
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Desde página
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297 |
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Hasta página
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341 |