Climate Change Impacts on Alpine Mass Movements

Global warming is causing rapid changes in high mountain landscapes. Changes due to rising air temperatures are well-observed, whereas changes due to precipitation are much more uncertain. The latter are important because they affect the frequency, magnitude and severity of alpine mass movements (AMM). In particular, more research is needed on the interaction between processes, such as how forest disturbances will undermine the effectiveness of protective forests. Due to the increased risk of AMM and the alteration of protective forests, communities will have to adjust to these changes and need robust adaptation measures. Our session focuses on responding to the emerging challenges posed by climate change impacts on AMM. It will address the following questions: (i) how will the hazard potential of different processes change, (ii) how will the impacts of AMM change due to changes in their initial conditions, meteorological trigger events, or flow dynamics, (iii) what is the role of cascading events involving different processes, (iv) what are the interactions of AMM with ecosystems, and (v) how will these changes alter the risk?