Water and Hazards in Mountainous Regions in a Changing Climate

About this Research Topic

Background

As global temperatures rise, this warming has vital hydrological consequences. These include increased glacier melt, changes in snow cover and permafrost thaw. Glacier retreat and permafrost thaw have decreased the stability of mountain slopes whereas the number and area of glacier lakes have increased. For dryland areas of the Andes, Hindu-Kush Himalaya, Atlas Mountains, and Zagros Mountains for example, these changes can exacerbate seasonal water scarcity as the cryosphere acts as an important basin-scale freshwater store. Effective policy and management strategies are needed to adapt to these risks. However, current understanding of meltwater contributions to streamflow and how, more broadly, mountain environments respond to climate change are inadequate to inform effective policy and management strategies or vulnerability assessments.
This Research Topic seeks to advance understanding of the impacts of climate change on freshwater resources and hazards in mountain environments, and to inform policy and management. Consequently, articles focused on mountainous regions that advance our understanding of mountain hydrology and contributions to streamflow for water-stressed areas, risks such as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), and slope instability due to the degradation of permafrost are especially welcome. Preference will be given to articles that consider all sources of water (e.g. snow, glaciers of all types, groundwater, precipitation), a range of risks to humans and/or ecosystems, and seasonal to decadal-scale variability. Other desirable characteristics include studies rooted in field measurements and/or Citizen Science and those that provide near-future projections (< 2050), robust uncertainty analyses and/or regional comparisons. Authors are encouraged to include local/indigenous knowledge and perspectives and/or reflect on relevant policy and management strategies within their region of interest or across mountainous regions.

Keywords: Water, hazards, mountains, Drylands, Climate

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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