Suspended sediment and discharge dynamics in a glaciated alpine environment: identifying crucial areas and time periods on several spatial and temporal scales in the Ötztal, Austria

Schmidt, Lena Katharina; Francke, Till; Rottler, Erwin; Blume, Theresa; Schöber, Johannes; Bronstert, Axel

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022

Articles | Volume 10, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 10, issue 3

Research article

|

01 Jul 2022

Research article |

| 01 Jul 2022

Suspended sediment and discharge dynamics in a glaciated alpine environment: identifying crucial areas and time periods on several spatial and temporal scales in the Ötztal, Austria

Lena Katharina Schmidt, Till Francke, Erwin Rottler, Theresa Blume, Johannes Schöber, and Axel Bronstert

Data sets

Discharge and suspended sediment time series of 2006 - 2020 of gauges Vent Rofenache and Tumpen in the glacierized high-alpine Ötztal, Tyrol, Austria Lena Katharina Schmidt and Hydrographic Service of Tyrol, Austria https://doi.org/10.23728/b2share.be13f43ce9bb46d8a7eedb7b56df3140

Digital terrain model of Tyrol, 10m resolution Land Tirol https://www.data.gv.at/katalog/dataset/land-tirol_tirolgelnde

CORINE Landcover 2018 Umweltbundesamt https://www.data.gv.at/katalog/dataset/clc2018

Austrian Glacier Inventory GI 3, 2006, in ArcGIS (shapefile) format A. Fischer, B. Seiser, M. Stocker-Waldhuber, and J. Abermann https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.844985

The Austrian Glacier Inventory GI 4 (2015) in ArcGis (shapefile) format J. Buckel and J.-C. Otto https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.887415

Fluctuations of Glaciers Database World Glacier Monitoring Service https://doi.org/10.5904/wgms-fog-2021-05

Daily MODIS Snow Cover Maps for the European Alps from 2002 onwards at 250 m Horizontal Resolution Along with a Nearly Cloud-Free Version M. Matiu, A. Jacob, and C. Notarnicola https://doi.org/10.3390/data5010001

Hydrological and meteorological records from the Vernagtferner Basin - Vernagtbach station, for the years 2002 to 2012 H. Escher-Vetter, L. N. Braun, and M. Siebers https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.829530

Discharge and suspended sediment time series of 2006-2020 of gauges Vent Rofenache and Tumpen in the glacierized high-alpine Ötztal, Tyrol, Austria L. K. Schmidt and Hydrographic Service of Tyrol, Austria https://doi.org/10.23728/b2share.be13f43ce9bb46d8a7eedb7b56df3140

Short summary

Climate change fundamentally alters glaciated high-alpine areas, but it is unclear how this affects riverine sediment transport. As a first step, we aimed to identify the most important processes and source areas in three nested catchments in the Ötztal, Austria, in the past 15 years. We found that areas above 2500 m were crucial and that summer rainstorms were less influential than glacier melt. These findings provide a baseline for studies on future changes in high-alpine sediment dynamics.