HYDRO-CH2018 "Forest, Glacier and Hydrology Change in Switzerland"

In the project FORHYCS-ICE, ("Forest, Glacier and Hydrology Change in Switzerland"), we aim at providing the first holistic simulations of climate impacts (CH2018 scenarios) on water resources, glaciers and forests. We aim at providing a reliable tool to assess climate-induced hydrological changes considering glacier retreat, forest dynamics and land-use changes. This will result in first glacio-(eco-)hydrological simulations based on the most recently downscaled climate scenarios by MeteoSwiss (CH2018) in selected catchments in different climatic regions of Switzerland to assess the importance of glacier retreat and forest dynamics on the components of the water balance. The project is a cooperation between hydrologists and forest dynamics scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, the University of Fribourg and the glaciology group at the ETH Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology VAW.

Publications:

Zekollari, H., Huss, M., & Farinotti, D. (2020). On the imbalance and response time of glaciers in the European Alps. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(2), e2019GL085578 (9 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085578

Brunner, M. I., Farinotti, D., Zekollari, H., Huss, M., & Zappa, M. (2019). Future shifts in extreme flow regimes in Alpine regions. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 23, 4471-4489. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4471-2019

Zekollari, H., Huss, M., & Farinotti, D. (2019). Modelling the future evolution of glaciers in the European Alps under the EURO-CORDEX RCM ensemble. Cryosphere, 13(4), 1125-1146. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1125-2019

Speich, M. J. R., Zappa, M., Scherstjanoi, M., & Lischke, H. (2020). FORests and HYdrology under Climate Change in Switzerland v1.0: a spatially distributed model combining hydrology and forest dynamics. Geoscientific Model Development, 13(2), 537-564. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-537-2020

Speich, M. J. R. (2019). Quantifying and modeling water availability in temperate forests: a review of drought and aridity indices. iForest, 12, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor2934-011