Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

E. Lang and U. Stary:

Multifunctional monitoring in torrent catchments

Summary

The assessment of torrent catchments in the Alpine area is often hindered by a lack of confirmed data. The Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW) has been devoted to this task for decades to close the knowledge gaps. The following paper makes an effort to show an overview of requirements on multifunctional monitoring under extreme conditions and reveal the importance of long-term studies in torrent areas. Selected results of long term monitoring in one special torrent catchment will be presented. The data show among other things the different impacts of climate change which are particularly evident in the parameters of precipitation and temperature. Key words: Torrent, snow water equivalent, sagging of mountain slopes, climate change.