In: Development in Practice, 2019, vol. 29, no. 3, p. 336–348
This article reflects on the merits and shortfalls of bilateral research programmes aimed at strengthening climate change research capabilities, using the experience from two programmes, the PACC and IHCAP in Peru and India, respectively. The study highlights key aspects of these types of bilateral programmes, namely: capacity; performance, salary and appreciation; funding; bureaucracy and...
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In: Global and Planetary Change, 2014, vol. 119, p. 85–97
The total glacial area of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, has shrunk by more than 30% in the period of 1930 to the present with a marked glacier retreat also in the recent decades. The aim of this paper is to assess local air temperature and precipitation changes in the Cordillera Blanca and to discuss how these variables could have affected the observed glacier retreat between the 1980s and...
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In: Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 2018, vol. 134, no. 1, p. 155–163
The climate and hydrology of the Western Himalayas is complex and a function of snow and glacier melt, land use, topography, and Indian summer and winter monsoon dynamics. Improving our knowledge about these processes is important from societal and agricultural points of view. In this study, an observational analysis is carried out to assess the changing climatic trends and the associated...
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In: The Cryosphere, 2019, vol. 13, no. 12, p. 3413–3434
Snow water equivalent (SWE) measurements of seasonal snowpack are crucial in many research fields. Yet accurate measurements at a high temporal resolution are difficult to obtain in high mountain regions. With a cosmic ray sensor (CRS), SWE can be inferred from neutron counts. We present the analyses of temporally continuous SWE measurements by a CRS on an alpine glacier in Switzerland...
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In: Journal of Hydrology, 2014, vol. 518, Part B, p. 225–234
Glacier and snow cover changes with related impacts on melt runoff can seriously affect human societies which are depending on fresh water from cryospheric sources. Observed trends and projected future evolutions of climatic and cryospheric variables clearly show the need to adapt to these changes. Accordingly, the topics addressed herein have been put on the agendas of many larger funding...
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In: The Cryosphere, 2014, vol. 8, no. 6, p. 2313–2333
Ice volume estimates are crucial for assessing water reserves stored in glaciers. Due to its large glacier coverage, such estimates are of particular interest for the Himalayan–Karakoram (HK) region. In this study, different existing methodologies are used to estimate the ice reserves: three area–volume relations, one slope-dependent volume estimation method, and two ice-thickness...
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In: Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 2016, p. 501–509
Knowing the height of the snowfall limit during precipitation events is crucial for better understanding a number of hydro-climatic processes, for instance glacier-climate interactions or runoff from high mountain catchments. However, knowledge on heights of the phase change during precipitation events is limited by the small number of meteorological measurements available at high altitudes,...
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In: Environmental Science & Policy, 2015, vol. 47, p. 80–94
As significant impacts of climate change are increasingly considered unavoidable, adaptation has become a policy priority. It is generally agreed that science is important for the adaptation process but specific guidance on how and to what degree science should contribute and be embedded in this process is still limited which is at odds with the high demand for science contributions to climate...
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 2017, vol. 122, no. 10, p. 5172–5189
Along with air temperatures, the freezing level height (FLH) has risen over the last decades. The mass balance of tropical glaciers in Peru is highly sensitive to a rise in the FLH, mainly due to a decrease in accumulation and increase of energy for ablation caused by reduced albedo. Knowledge of future changes in the FLH is thus crucial to estimating changes in glacier extents. Since in situ...
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In: The Cryosphere, 2013, vol. 7, p. 103-118
The role of glaciers as temporal water reservoirs is particularly pronounced in the (outer) tropics because of the very distinct wet/dry seasons. Rapid glacier retreat caused by climatic changes is thus a major concern, and decision makers demand urgently for regional/local glacier evolution trends, ice mass estimates and runoff assessments. However, in remote mountain areas, spatial and temporal...
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