A physicist with expertise in remote sensing and Earth observation and an emergency physician active in mountain rescue. Claudia Notarnicola and Giacomo Strapazzon could not have more different profiles, yet their research is united by at least two things: the use of increasingly bigger data and ... snow.

Conversations between disciplines: interview with physicist Claudia Notarnicola and emergency physician Giacomo Strapazzon.

“Data sustainability is the new frontier of research”

A study by Eurac Research recently published in the Nature journal’s Scientific Reports paints a discouraging picture of recent decades. Between 1982 and 2020, the period of snow cover in mountain areas around the world decreased by an average of about 15 days. The Alps are in line with the average where the reduction in snow cover sits between 10 and 20 days. The study strengthens the results of earlier research by extending the observation period and has also helped to make a NASA model more accurate. 

Mountains worldwide have two weeks less snow on average than in 1982

Snow defines the winter landscape, provides vital water resources for ecosystems and agriculture and creates jobs.
But climate change is threatening snow. How has snow changed in South Tyrol and the rest of the Alps? What is expected in the future and what will the consequences be?


Developements and effects in South Tyrol and the Alps

Snow

You may have noticed the occasional solitary mound of snow just sitting there whilst all around there’s no other trace of the white stuff. The mystery of the mounds depends on several things - sun and the action of the snow ploughs in the city or the wind in the mountains. For this reason, estimating the total amount of snow that has fallen can be difficult, but it does help us to understand how much water we can reasonably use. A new study has just started using an innovative approach and radar waves to gain more insight into understanding the dynamics of snow. 

A new approach using satellite research …and bats!

Measuring snow depth

Il suo motore? La volontà. Ha vinto la prima edizione del premio Women in Science della Provincia autonoma di Bolzano “per la sua carriera scientifica straordinaria sviluppata in un ambito, quello della fisica aerospaziale, a forte prevalenza maschile”. Claudia Notarnicola, vicedirettrice dell’Istituto per l’osservazione della Terra, si racconta in aneddoti, ricordi e consigli. 