Recent advances in mountain climate research

Abstract

The paper provides a brief overview of recent advances in selected areas of mountain climate research. It addresses the contrasting vertical precipitation gradients in the Alps and in central Asia, snow line in the Alps, orographic precipitation in North America, the Mesoscale Alpine Programme wind studies, automatic weather stations in mountains, satellite remote sensing of glacier changes, and temperature change at high elevations. The evidence for altitudinal differences in the temperature response to recent warming is discussed. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.