Publications related to Assessing the impact of ground ice degradation on high mountain lake environments (Lago Nero catchment, Swiss Alps)

On the importance of the humidity flux for the surface mass balance in the accumulation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet

It is highly uncertain how the humidity flux between the snow surface and the atmosphere contributes to the surface mass balance (SMB) of the interior Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS). Due to sparse observations, evaluations of the simulated humidity flux are li ...

Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh2024

The microbial genomics of glacier-fed streams: adaptations to an extreme ecosystem

Massimo Bourquin

Glacier-fed streams are the cold, ultra-oligotrophic, and unstable streams that are fed by glacial meltwater. Despite these extreme conditions, they harbour a diverse and abundant microbial diversity that develops into biofilms, covering the boulders and s ...

EPFL2024

A seasonal snowpack model forced with dynamically downscaled forcing data resolves hydrologically relevant accumulation patterns

Michael Lehning, Dylan Stewart Reynolds, Tobias Jonas

The Mountain snowpack stores months of winter precipitation at high elevations, supplying snowmelt to lowland areas in drier seasons for agriculture and human consumption worldwide. Accurate seasonal predictions of the snowpack are thus of great importance ...

Frontiers Media Sa2024

Atmospheric isoprene measurements reveal larger-than-expected Southern Ocean emissions

Julia Schmale, Andrea Baccarini

Isoprene is a key trace component of the atmosphere emitted by vegetation and other organisms. It is highly reactive and can impact atmospheric composition and climate by affecting the greenhouse gases ozone and methane and secondary organic aerosol format ...

Nature Research2024

Modular Multiplatform Compatible Air Measurement System (MoMuCAMS): a new modular platform for boundary layer aerosol and trace gas vertical measurements in extreme environments

Julia Schmale, Andrea Baccarini, Roman Pohorsky

The Modular Multiplatform Compatible Air Measurement System (MoMuCAMS) is a newly developed in situ aerosol and trace gas measurement platform for lower-atmospheric vertical profiling. MoMuCAMS has been primarily designed to be attached to a Helikite, a ru ...

2024

Understanding snow saltation parameterizations: lessons from theory, experiments and numerical simulations

Michael Lehning, Armin Sigmund, Daniela Brito Melo

Drifting and blowing snow are important features in polar and high mountain regions. They control the surface mass balance in windy conditions and influence sublimation of snow and ice surfaces. Despite their importance, model representations in weather an ...

2024

Global emergent responses of stream microbial metabolism to glacier shrinkage

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Massimo Bourquin, Nicola Deluigi, Tyler Joe Kohler, Michail Styllas

Most cryospheric ecosystems are energy limited. How their energetics will respond to climate change remains largely unknown. This is particularly true for glacier-fed streams, which interface with the cryosphere and initiate some of Earth's largest river s ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Near-bed stratification controls bottom hypoxia in ice-covered alpine lakes

Damien Bouffard, Camille Roland Marie Minaudo, Tomy Doda, Hugo Nicolás Ulloa Sánchez, Hannah Elisa Chmiel, Janine Rüegg, Nicolas Thomas Georges Escoffier, Pascal Perolo

In ice-covered lakes, near-bottom oxygen concentration decreases for most of the wintertime, sometimes down to the point that bottom waters become hypoxic. Studies insofar have reached divergent conclusions on whether climate change limits or reinforces th ...

American Society of Limnology and Oceanography2023

The biofilm ecology of proglacial floodplain streams

Jade Brandani

Glacial forelands figure among the most dynamic landscapes on Earth, and their formation is currently accelerating given glacier shrinkage. Draining these forelands are streams hosting unique microbial communities, which have the capacity to impact both th ...

EPFL2023

CRYOWRF—Model Evaluation and the Effect of Blowing Snow on the Antarctic Surface Mass Balance

Varun Sharma, Michael Lehning, Franziska Gerber

The surface mass balance (SMB) of large polar ice sheets and of snow and ice surfaces in general are incompletely understood because of the complexity of processes involved. One such process, drifting and blowing snow, has only been considered in a very si ...

AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION2023