Severe melting of glaciers despite heavy snowfall at high altitudes
After the extreme circumstances encountered in 2022 and 2023, no relief is in sight for Swiss glaciers. Despite exceptionally large volumes of snow during the winter, a combination of temperatures in July and August that at times reached record levels and dust from the Sahara resulted in a loss of 2.5% of the glacier volume. This was reported by the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation of the Swiss Academy of Sciences on Tuesday.
Image: Matthias HussBlau-grüne Biodiversität: erkennen, erhalten, fördern
Die Biodiversität an den Schnittstellen vom Wasser zum Land ist besonders hoch. Und sie steht besonders unter Druck. Denn alle wollen ans Wasser, brauchen Wasser oder aber wollen das Wasser schnellstmöglich loswerden. Die vom ETH-Rat geförderte, gemeinsame Forschungsinitiative «Blue-Green Biodiversity» (BGB) der beiden Institute WSL und Eawag hat deshalb seit 2020 die Biodiversität an den Schnittstellen von aquatischen und terrestrischen Ökosystemen näher erforscht.
Image: EAWAG und WSL
How the microstructure of snow in the Arctic influences sea ice and the global climate
Amy R. Macfarlane will be awarded the Prix de Quervain 2024 for her excellent and innovative doctoral dissertation at the ETH Zurich and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF. Her research serves as a base to reduce major uncertainties on sea ice modelling and to improve the quality of global climate models predictions. For this, she applied a wide variety of instruments to measure the microstructure of snow in high resolution directly in the Arctic for the first time.
Image: Calle SchöningWater bargaining
Water plays a role in conflicts, and water scarcity is becoming an ever-bigger problem on account of population growth and climate change. The focus of this issue is on how low-threshold conflicts around water can be resolved, and how water scarcity can be countered in the canton of Aargau, in Switzerland as a whole, and all around the world.
Changes in Water
The major global challenges cannot be thought about, investigated and solved without considering water as a connecting element. In our complex world, in which numerous crises interact, water-related solutions are needed. The publication “Changes in Water” illustrates how Eawag contributes to the developments of solutions in the areas of health, cycles, biodiversity and the climate crisis through teaching, consulting, excellent basic and applied research.
Image: EAWAGHydrologisches Jahrbuch der Schweiz 2023
Das Hydrologische Jahrbuch der Schweiz wird vom Bundesamt für Umwelt (BAFU) herausgegeben und liefert einen Überblick über das hydrologische Geschehen auf nationaler Ebene. Es zeigt die Entwicklung der Wasserstände und Abflussmengen von Seen, Fliessgewässern und Grundwasser auf und enthält Angaben zu Wassertemperaturen sowie zu physikalischen und chemischen Eigenschaften der wichtigsten Fliessgewässer der Schweiz. Die meisten Daten stammen aus Erhebungen des BAFU.
Image: BAFU