title: 21st century climate change in the European Alps--a review.
abstract: Reliable estimates of future climate change in the Alps are relevant for large parts of the European society. At the same time, the complex Alpine region poses considerable challenges to climate models, which translate to uncertainties in the climate projections. Against this background, the present study reviews the state-of-knowledge about 21st century climate change in the Alps based on existing literature and additional analyses. In particular, it explicitly considers the reliability and uncertainty of climate projections. Results show that besides Alpine temperatures, also precipitation, global radiation, relative humidity, and closely related impacts like floods, droughts, snow cover, and natural hazards will be affected by global warming. Under the A1B emission scenario, about 0.25 °C warming per decade until the mid of the 21st century and accelerated 0.36 °C warming per decade in the second half of the century is expected. Warming will probably be associated with changes in the seasonality of precipitation, global radiation, and relative humidity, and more intense precipitation extremes and flooding potential in the colder part of the year. The conditions of currently record breaking warm or hot winter or summer seasons, respectively, may become normal at the end of the 21st century, and there is indication for droughts to become more severe in the future. Snow cover is expected to drastically decrease below 1500-2000 m and natural hazards related to glacier and permafrost retreat are expected to become more frequent. Such changes in climatic parameters and related quantities will have considerable impact on ecosystems and society and will challenge their adaptive capabilities.
authors: Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, University of Graz, Brandhofgasse 5, 8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: andreas.gobiet@uni-graz.at.
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Gobiet
authors: Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Universitätstrasse 16, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: sven.kotlarski@env.ethz.ch.
authors: Sven
authors: S
authors: Kotlarski
authors: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Site de Battelle-Bâtiment D, 7, route de Drize-1227 Carouge, Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: martin.beniston@unige.ch.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Beniston
authors: Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, University of Graz, Brandhofgasse 5, 8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: g.heinrich@uni-graz.at.
authors: Georg
authors: G
authors: Heinrich
authors: Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Universitätstrasse 16, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: jan.rajczak@env.ethz.ch.
authors: Jan
authors: J
authors: Rajczak
authors: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Site de Battelle-Bâtiment D, 7, route de Drize-1227 Carouge, Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: markus.stoffel@unige.ch.
authors: Markus
authors: M
authors: Stoffel
keywords: Alpine region; Climate change; Drought; Extremes; Natural hazards; Snow