Articles | Volume 10, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022
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

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Cited articles

Abermann, J., Lambrecht, A., Fischer, A., and Kuhn, M.: Quantifying changes and trends in glacier area and volume in the Austrian Ötztal Alps (1969-1997-2006), The Cryosphere, 3, 205–215, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-3-205-2009, 2009. 
Ballantyne, C. K.: Paraglacial geomorphology, Quat. Sci. Rev., 21, 1935–2017, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-3791(02)00005-7, 2002. 
Beylich, A. A., Laute, K., and Storms, J. E. A.: Contemporary suspended sediment dynamics within two partly glacierized mountain drainage basins in western Norway (Erdalen and Bødalen, inner Nordfjord), Geomorphology, 287, 126–143, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.12.013, 2017. 
Bilotta, G. S. and Brazier, R. E.: Understanding the influence of suspended solids on water quality and aquatic biota, Water Res., 42, 2849–2861, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2008.03.018, 2008. 
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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.