Heterogeneous changes of soil microclimate in high mountains and glacier forelands

Silvio Marta (), Anaïs Zimmer, Marco Caccianiga, Mauro Gobbi, Roberto Ambrosini, Roberto Sergio Azzoni, Fabrizio Gili, Francesca Pittino, Wilfried Thuiller, Antonello Provenzale and Gentile Francesco Ficetola
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Silvio Marta: University of Milan
Anaïs Zimmer: University of Texas at Austin
Marco Caccianiga: University of Milan
Mauro Gobbi: MUSE-Science Museum
Roberto Ambrosini: University of Milan
Roberto Sergio Azzoni: University of Milan
Fabrizio Gili: University of Milan
Francesca Pittino: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT) - University of Milan-Bicocca
Wilfried Thuiller: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA
Antonello Provenzale: IGG-CNR, Italian National Research Council
Gentile Francesco Ficetola: University of Milan

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Landscapes nearby glaciers are disproportionally affected by climate change, but we lack detailed information on microclimate variations that can modulate the impacts of global warming on proglacial ecosystems and their biodiversity. Here, we use near-subsurface soil temperatures in 175 stations from polar, equatorial and alpine glacier forelands to generate high-resolution temperature reconstructions, assess spatial variability in microclimate change from 2001 to 2020, and estimate whether microclimate heterogeneity might buffer the severity of warming trends. Temporal changes in microclimate are tightly linked to broad-scale conditions, but the rate of local warming shows great spatial heterogeneity, with faster warming nearby glaciers and during the warm season, and an extension of the snow-free season. Still, most of the fine-scale spatial variability of microclimate is one-to-ten times larger than the temporal change experienced during the past 20 years, indicating the potential for microclimate to buffer climate change, possibly allowing organisms to withstand, at least temporarily, the effects of warming.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41063-6

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