Less water is now stored in the Alps in the
form of snow
SNOW AND ICE
Enormous quantities of water are stored seasonally in the Alps in the form of snow.
KEY TOPICS
snow water equivalent changed very
little in winter, it had decreased mark­
edly on the reporting date of 1 April
at about half the stations during
the period of time investigated. The
reason for this was not just the rise
in temperature, but also the lower
amount of spring precipitation seen
in recent years. If, as expected,
temperatures continue to rise, alpine
rivers will carry considerably less
water in summer, as the greater part
of the snowmelt will occur earlier in
the year.(mhe)
www.slf.ch/more/swr-en
Photo: Marcia Phillips, SLF
Some of the winter precipitation in
the Alps is temporarily stored as
snow, which is then available as melt­
water in spring and summer and can
be used in electricity production,
agriculture and as drinking water.
Seasonal fluctuations in precipitation
can thus be partly compensated for.
In her master’s thesis at SLF, Anna-­
Maria Tilg conducted the first inves­
tigation into changes in the snow
water equivalent (the amount of
water produced when the snow has
completely melted) at more than 40
measuring stations in four alpine
countries. Although the stations are
distributed over a large range of alti­
tudes and a wide variety of climate
regions, she discovered some aston­
ishingly uniform trends across the
Alps over the past 45 years. While the
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