UAV-BASED LIDAR HIGH-RESOLUTION SNOW DEPTH MAPPING IN THE SWISS ALPS: COMPARING FLAT AND STEEP FORESTS

Roads in sloping fens constitute a hydraulic barrier for surface and subsurface flow. This can lead to the drying out of downslope areas of the fen as well as gully erosion. By combining fieldwork and numerical models, this study presents an assessment of the hydrogeological impact of three road structures especially designed to limit their impact. The study shows that the impact of roads on the hydrological regime in fens can be significantly reduced by using appropriate engineering measures.

Meltwater runoff from steep mountainous terrain holds great societal and ecological importance. Predicting snow dynamics in unmonitored areas and/or under changed climate requires computer simulations. Yet variability in alpine snow patterns poses a considerable challenge. Here we combine existing tools with high-resolution observations to both constrain and quantify the uncertainty in historical simulations. Snowpack evolution was satisfactorily reproduced and uncertainty substantially reduced.