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The vulnerability of Pyrenean ski resorts to climate-induced changes in the snowpack

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Abstract

Winter tourism is the main source of income and the driving force of local development in many mountain areas. However, in recent years, the industry has been identified as being extremely vulnerable to future climate change. Although the Pyrenees has the largest ski area in Europe after the Alps, there are few detailed climate change vulnerability assessments on the ski resorts based in this region. This paper analyzes the vulnerability of the Pyrenean ski resorts to projected changes in the snowpack under various future climate scenarios. In addition, the study analyzes the sustainability of the snowmaking systems to offset the climate variability of natural snow cover. On average, the study predicts a shorter ski-season length, especially in low-altitude ski resorts in a moderate climate change scenario and for all ski resorts in a more intensive climate change scenario. However, a significant regional variability has been identified for the projected impacts at very short geographical distances within the studied area. Moreover, this paper shows that snowmaking cannot completely solve the problem for all ski resorts in the Pyrenees, as the measure can only act as a robust adaptation strategy in the region provided climate change is limited to +2 °C snowmaking.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the research projects Hidrología nival en el Pirineo Central Español: Variabilidad espacial, importancia hidrológica y respuesta a la variabilidad y cambio climático (CGL2011-27536/HID, Hidronieve), financed by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology and FEDER, the CTTP1/12 “Creació d’ un model d’ alta resolució espacial per quantificar l’esquiabilitat i l’afluència turística al Pirineu sota diferents escenaris de canvio climàtic,” financed by the Governmet of Aragon and ACTP011-AND/2010 and ACTP017-AND/2012 projects financed by the Government of Andorra in the framework of the research grants of Working Community of the Pyrenees. The first author acknowledges also a predoctoral grant from the Andorran Government [BTC2010/2013-0006-AND].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sustainability Observatory of Andorra (OBSA), Pl. Germandat 7, Sant Julià de Lòria, AD600, Andorra

    Marc Pons & Èric Jover

  2. Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC), Av. Montañana 1005, Zaragoza, 50059, Spain

    Juan Ignacio López-Moreno

  3. Sustainability Measurement and Modeling Lab (SUMMLab), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), EET, 08222, Barcelona, Spain

    Marc Pons & Martí Rosas-Casals

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  1. Marc Pons
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  2. Juan Ignacio López-Moreno
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  4. Èric Jover
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Correspondence to Marc Pons.

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Pons, M., López-Moreno, J.I., Rosas-Casals, M. et al. The vulnerability of Pyrenean ski resorts to climate-induced changes in the snowpack. Climatic Change 131, 591–605 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1400-8

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