Percentage of the region located between the actual and the future snow reliability line



  • Indicator

[hectares/hectares tourism region]

  • Range
 [-%]
  • Control for

DEMAND: Changes in tourists flow (-)

SUPPLY: Changes in monetary and employment flows (-)

  • Influence on vulnerability
 With the increase in temperatures, the length of snow cover and the number of days with snowfall will decrease at low altitude (Agrawala 2007; Beniston 2009). It could therefore be foreseen that many low-altitude ski domains will be particularly affected. The higher the score, the higher the exposure.
  • Trend
 Linear ↑
  • Data source
 Personal calculation referring to Haeberli and Beniston (1998), Frei (2004), Agrawala (2007), OcCC/Proclim (2007) and using a DHM25.
  • Remarks

The actual snow reliability line is set at 1200 m AMSL for the North of Alps and at 1500 m AMSL for the South of Alps. In a mountainous region, an increase of 1°C implies - on average - a shift of 150 m upwards of the snowline (Haeberli and Beniston 1998). Taking an increase of +1.8°C in winter over 1990 (Frei 2004; OcCC/ProClim 2007), the lower snow line would raise of 270 m by 2050. Therefore, at the 2050 time horizon, this is calculated to be at respectively 1470 and 1770 meters. However, it should be considered that – even if there is a strong linear relation between snow duration and altitude (Beniston, Keller et al. 2003), also exposure, topography and other characteristics of regional climate do play a role in determining snow conditions (Baeriswyl and Rebetez (1996) in Jungo and Beniston (2001)).

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