The Alps are shifting in color. Profit margins are shrinking while green grows. Warmer springs and summers have thinned the white snow cover that used to shelter the mountains through long cold spells, gradually giving way over the last forty years to a tapestry of green shoots. These new growths now blanket roughly 77% of the mountains above the forest edge. As this landscape transformation delights the eye, scientists warn that such rapid and deep changes carry real consequences for biodiversity, the reflectivity of the surface, and the availability of water, a resource essential to life.
What is unfolding in the Alps is what researchers call greening. In plain terms, the high mountain zone now has the conditions required for many more plants to establish themselves than in the past. This phenomenon, described by a Swiss research team, tracks with rising temperatures and is already visible in other regions of the world, including the Arctic.
Climate change drives this shift in snow, as scientists report in a study published in Science. By comparing satellite images from forty years ago with today, researchers confirmed the landscape transformation. Climate change is visible even from space, the researchers note.
It is noted that snow cover has diminished by nearly 10 percent, tied to a shift in how precipitation arrives in the mountains, now more rain than snow. Although projections suggest precipitation will increase in the Alps, the mountains are warming so rapidly that the portion falling as snow decreases. In fact, experts predict that within twenty to thirty years the loss of snow mass could reach at least 25 percent.
More herbs are not always beneficial
This trend is closely tied to the rise in high mountain vegetation. The surge in plant life creates a feedback loop that does not help preserve the white mantle that covers the range. The greener the terrain becomes, the more heat it can exchange with the atmosphere. That shift ultimately alters snowfall patterns, causing snow to melt faster and reducing cover.
Both plant growth and snow loss influence the climate. Scientists caution that increased greening, even if it coincides with higher crop yields, will likely contribute little to fighting global warming overall. Compared with other biomes, the mountain flora does not act as a large carbon sink like the more fertile forests.
Researchers emphasize that the harm to these ecosystems is likely greater than any potential benefits. Climate change is expected to push the high mountain flora into radical changes in composition and function, affecting the organisms that rely on them. The study points to possible large-scale structural changes across the European Alps.
The change has already begun
As snow vanishes, the Earths albedo may fall, altering climate feedbacks. Loss of snow can influence the region’s climate, economy, recreation, and the availability of drinking water. With less white cover, the mountains will absorb more solar energy, warming the surrounding area.
The Alps may become heat sinks, a development that could raise regional temperatures further. A thaw of permafrost could release greenhouse gases and trigger landslides, compounding the risk. Glaciers and snow contribute to about half of the worlds freshwater supplies; the shrinking snow pack thus intersects with drought risks that threaten water availability for communities downstream.
The referenced science article highlights these concerns and underscores that the ongoing loss of snow will coincide with broader water management challenges for cities and rural areas alike. The findings remind readers that climate dynamics in high mountain regions matter well beyond the peaks.
Reference work: Science, 2023 issue on alpine greening.
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