Mountain Climates and Climatic Change: An Overview of Processes Focusing on the European Alps

This contribution provides an overview of the intricacies of mountain climates, particularly as they pertain to the European Alps. Examples will be given of issues that are related to climatic change as observed in the Alps during the course of the 20th century, and some of the physical mechanisms that may be responsible for those changes. The discussion will then focus on the problems related to assessing climatic change in regions of complex topography, the potential shifts in climate during the 21st century that the alpine region may be subjected to, and the associated climate-generated impacts on mountain environments.