C2H - Climate, Cryosphere and Hydroshere

Team coordinated by P. Wagnon and V. Favier

General objective :

The C2H team seeks to better understand the interactions between climate, cryosphere and hydrosphere in cold regions of the planet, and their positioning in the global climate system. The team seeks to quantify :
– the evolution of the climate of cold regions (high latitudes and mountains) by considering its links with the global and regional climate systems, at different time scales,
– anthropogenic signals with respect to natural climate variability,
– surface processes controlling surface snow accumulation (including spatial and temporal variability of precipitation), wind transport of snow, melting, sublimation, etc. ; their impacts on surface and sub-surface states (snow/firn/permafrost) and feedbacks on the atmosphere (e.g. stable atmospheric boundary layers and katabatic winds) and climate (e.g. thawing permafrost),
– the magnitude of current and future ice melt and its impact on sea level rise, water resources and risks,
– the hydrological functioning of mountain watersheds (surface, subsurface and underground flows)
– impacts related to anthropogenic pressures in mountain regions (tourism, hydroelectricity, drinking water supply, land use changes, irrigation, etc.).

The team is articulated around 2 axes and works in synergy with the CryoDyn team for the study of past and future variations of ice surfaces and corresponding volumes.