Unprecedented snow-drought conditions in the Italian Alps during the early 2020s
Snow represents a fundamental water resource for mountain and lowland areas. Changes in the frequency and magnitude of snow droughts can significantly impact societies and ecosystems that rely on snowmelt to satisfy their water demands. Here we documented and quantified the snow drought that affecte...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acdb88 |
| _version_ | 1827869796309401600 |
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| author | Nicola Colombo Nicolas Guyennon Mauro Valt Franco Salerno Danilo Godone Paola Cianfarra Michele Freppaz Maurizio Maugeri Veronica Manara Fiorella Acquaotta Anna Bruna Petrangeli Emanuele Romano |
| author_facet | Nicola Colombo Nicolas Guyennon Mauro Valt Franco Salerno Danilo Godone Paola Cianfarra Michele Freppaz Maurizio Maugeri Veronica Manara Fiorella Acquaotta Anna Bruna Petrangeli Emanuele Romano |
| author_sort | Nicola Colombo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Snow represents a fundamental water resource for mountain and lowland areas. Changes in the frequency and magnitude of snow droughts can significantly impact societies and ecosystems that rely on snowmelt to satisfy their water demands. Here we documented and quantified the snow drought that affected the Italian Alps during the early 2020s. We used 15 long-term snow-depth series (period 1930–2023, elevation range: 864–2200 m a.s.l.) to simulate the snow water equivalent (SWE), in conjunction with climatic reanalysis data and river discharge observations. We found that the March SWE anomaly in 2022 reached the lowest value in the last century, due to an unprecedented combination of drier- and warmer-than-normal conditions in the period December 2021–March 2022. This event contributed to causing critical hydrological conditions in the Po and Adige rivers which, during summer 2022, experienced the worst hydrological drought ever recorded. Despite its unprecedented magnitude, the snow drought in 2022 is part of a recent pattern of increased intensity and frequency of snow-drought events since the 1990s, due to the combined increasing occurrence of warmer- and drier-than-normal climatic conditions during the snow season. Remarkably, three out of the five most severe snow-drought events occurred in the last five years, with exceptional snow-drought conditions even occurring in the last two consecutive winters, 2022 and 2023. The snow-drought conditions that occurred in the early 2020s in the Italian Alps warn of the pressing need for the implementation of impact mitigation measures to adapt to the fast changing snow and climatic conditions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:49:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b3ca7b092e0a4a9c9d8eacc16b28d5fb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:49:12Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-b3ca7b092e0a4a9c9d8eacc16b28d5fb2023-08-09T15:17:51ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262023-01-0118707401410.1088/1748-9326/acdb88Unprecedented snow-drought conditions in the Italian Alps during the early 2020sNicola Colombo0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2244-3147Nicolas Guyennon1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0306-0610Mauro Valt2Franco Salerno3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3419-6780Danilo Godone4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1455-6862Paola Cianfarra5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9396-4519Michele Freppaz6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4290-6850Maurizio Maugeri7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4110-9737Veronica Manara8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9652-4228Fiorella Acquaotta9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9498-3313Anna Bruna Petrangeli10https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6904-2493Emanuele Romano11https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4846-2389Water Research Institute, National Research Council of Italy , Montelibretti, RM, Italy; Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Turin , Grugliasco, TO, Italy; Research Center on Natural Risk in Mountain and Hilly Environments, University of Turin , Grugliasco, TO, ItalyWater Research Institute, National Research Council of Italy , Montelibretti, RM, ItalyAvalanche Center Arabba, ARPA-Veneto-DRST , Livinallongo del Col di Lana, BL, Italy; AINEVA , Trento, ItalyInstitute of Polar Sciences, National Research Council of Italy , Milan, ItalyResearch Center on Natural Risk in Mountain and Hilly Environments, University of Turin , Grugliasco, TO, Italy; Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, National Research Council of Italy , Turin, ItalyDepartment of Earth, Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Genoa , Genoa, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Turin , Grugliasco, TO, Italy; Research Center on Natural Risk in Mountain and Hilly Environments, University of Turin , Grugliasco, TO, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan , Milan, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan , Milan, ItalyResearch Center on Natural Risk in Mountain and Hilly Environments, University of Turin , Grugliasco, TO, Italy; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Turin , Turin, ItalyWater Research Institute, National Research Council of Italy , Montelibretti, RM, ItalyWater Research Institute, National Research Council of Italy , Montelibretti, RM, ItalySnow represents a fundamental water resource for mountain and lowland areas. Changes in the frequency and magnitude of snow droughts can significantly impact societies and ecosystems that rely on snowmelt to satisfy their water demands. Here we documented and quantified the snow drought that affected the Italian Alps during the early 2020s. We used 15 long-term snow-depth series (period 1930–2023, elevation range: 864–2200 m a.s.l.) to simulate the snow water equivalent (SWE), in conjunction with climatic reanalysis data and river discharge observations. We found that the March SWE anomaly in 2022 reached the lowest value in the last century, due to an unprecedented combination of drier- and warmer-than-normal conditions in the period December 2021–March 2022. This event contributed to causing critical hydrological conditions in the Po and Adige rivers which, during summer 2022, experienced the worst hydrological drought ever recorded. Despite its unprecedented magnitude, the snow drought in 2022 is part of a recent pattern of increased intensity and frequency of snow-drought events since the 1990s, due to the combined increasing occurrence of warmer- and drier-than-normal climatic conditions during the snow season. Remarkably, three out of the five most severe snow-drought events occurred in the last five years, with exceptional snow-drought conditions even occurring in the last two consecutive winters, 2022 and 2023. The snow-drought conditions that occurred in the early 2020s in the Italian Alps warn of the pressing need for the implementation of impact mitigation measures to adapt to the fast changing snow and climatic conditions.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acdb88snow water equivalentclimate changeAlpsstandardised indicesprecipitationsnow drought |
| spellingShingle | Nicola Colombo Nicolas Guyennon Mauro Valt Franco Salerno Danilo Godone Paola Cianfarra Michele Freppaz Maurizio Maugeri Veronica Manara Fiorella Acquaotta Anna Bruna Petrangeli Emanuele Romano Unprecedented snow-drought conditions in the Italian Alps during the early 2020s Environmental Research Letters snow water equivalent climate change Alps standardised indices precipitation snow drought |
| title | Unprecedented snow-drought conditions in the Italian Alps during the early 2020s |
| title_full | Unprecedented snow-drought conditions in the Italian Alps during the early 2020s |
| title_fullStr | Unprecedented snow-drought conditions in the Italian Alps during the early 2020s |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unprecedented snow-drought conditions in the Italian Alps during the early 2020s |
| title_short | Unprecedented snow-drought conditions in the Italian Alps during the early 2020s |
| title_sort | unprecedented snow drought conditions in the italian alps during the early 2020s |
| topic | snow water equivalent climate change Alps standardised indices precipitation snow drought |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acdb88 |
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