The European mountain cryosphere: A review of past, current and future issues

Abstract

Abstract. The mountain cryosphere is recognized to have important impacts on a range of environmental processes. This paper reviews current knowledge on snow, glacier, and permafrost processes, as well as their past, current and future evolution in mountain regions in mainland Europe. We provide a comprehensive assessment of the current state of cryosphere research in Europe and point to the different domains requiring further research to improve our understanding of climate–cryosphere interactions, cryosphere controls on physical and biological mountain systems, as well as related impacts. We highlight advances in the modeling of the cryosphere, and identify inherent uncertainties in our capability of projecting changes in the context of a warming global climate.