MOUNTAIN AND REMOTE AREAS

Chairs: Silvia Terzago – Davide Putero

Mountains and polar regions are climate change “hotspots” because they respond more rapidly and intensely to global warming. These remote areas allow for the assessment of the health of the atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere for studying the climate and its related impacts. The Working Group (WG) brings together expertise on atmospheric observations, modeling, and the impacts of climate change in such environments. Specifically: i) it promotes sharing, discussion of new opportunities, and coordinated initiatives for participation in national and international projects; ii) it promotes the use of datasets from ISAC observatories and shared computational resources; iii) it promotes internal seminars and outreach activities.

The WG’s research topics include: i) the characterization of the variability of atmospheric composition (gases and aerosols) in mountain and remote areas, and the processes that influence it, including the transport of pollutants/climate-altering agents, exchanges with the cryosphere and oceans, and interactions with ecosystems; ii) the study and reconstruction of past climate variability, the acceleration of changes in recent decades, and future projections; iii) climate modeling to study changes in the hydrological cycle in high-altitude areas, the processes driving variability in snow cover, glaciers, and their effects on water resources; iv) natural hazards with reference to hydrogeological instability.

Recent publications

Capozzi, V., Serrapica, F., Rocco, A., Annella, C., and Budillon, G. (2025). Historical snow measurements in the central and southern Apennine Mountains: climatology, variability, and trend, The Cryosphere, 19, 565–595, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-565-2025

Capozzi, V., Serrapica, F., Rocco, A., Annella, C., Budillon, G. (2024). Historical snowfall precipitation data in the Apennine Mountains, Italy – Version V1. Resource type: Dataset; Publisher: Zenodo; https://zenodo.org/records/12699507

Paglione, M., Beddows, D. C. S., Jones, A., Lachlan-Cope, T., Rinaldi, M., Decesari, S., Manarini, F., Russo, M., Mansour, K., Harrison, R. M., Mazzanti, A., Tagliavini, E., and Dall’Osto, M. (2024) Simultaneous organic aerosol source apportionment at two Antarctic sites reveals large-scale and ecoregion-specific components, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6305–6322, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6305-2024.

Paranunzio, R., & Marra, F. (2024). Open gridded climate datasets can help investigating the relation between meteorological anomalies and geomorphic hazards in mountainous areas. Global and Planetary Change, 232, 104328, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104328

Nigrelli, G., Paranunzio, R., Turconi, L., Luino, F., Mortara, G., Guerini, M., … & Chiarle, M. (2024). First national inventory of high-elevation mass movements in the Italian Alps. Computers & Geosciences, 184, 105520, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2024.105520

International projects

Horizon 2025 “LinkIng and QUantifying the Impact of climat changes on inlanD Ice snow Cover and pErmafrost on water resources (LiquidICE)”

PNRA 2022 “Concordia ATmospheric CHemistry – Observatory (CATCH-O)”

PRIN 2022 “RaINfall exTremEs and their impacts: from the local to the National ScalE (INTENSE)”

PRIN 2022 “Seasonal Prediction of water-availability: enHancing watER sEcurity from high mountains to plains (SPHERE)”

PNRA 2018 “Stratosphere-to-Troposphere Exchange in the Antarctic Region (STEAR)”