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Cryosphere–groundwater connectivity is a missing link in the mountain water cycle

Nature Water volume 2, pages 624–637 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

The mountain cryosphere and groundwater play pivotal roles in shaping the hydrological cycle, yet their connectivity remains incompletely understood. Current knowledge on meltwater recharge and consequent groundwater discharge processes is better developed for snow–groundwater connectivity than for glacier–groundwater connectivity. Estimates of meltwater recharge vary considerably, which is probably a function of not only inherent catchment characteristics but also of the different spatio-temporal scales involved and the uncertainties in the methods used. This hinders a comprehensive understanding of the mountain water cycle. As glaciers retreat, permafrost thaws and snowpack diminishes, the relative importance of mountain groundwater is expected to increase. However, shifting and declining recharge from the cryosphere may decrease absolute groundwater amounts and fluxes with as-yet unknown effects on catchment-scale hydrological processes. We therefore stress the need to better quantify mountain cryosphere–groundwater connectivity to predict climate change impacts on mountain water supply and to support sustainable water resource management of downstream socio-ecological systems.

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Fig. 1: Locations of meltwater recharge to groundwater and consequent meltwater flowpaths through the subsurface at different spatial scales.
Fig. 2: Key questions related to cryosphere–groundwater connectivity.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) for sponsoring the workshop ‘Cryosphere-groundwater Interactions: A Missing Link in Mountain Water Research’ via their funding from the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) under project no. FNW0004 004-2019-00. M.v.T. was supported by a Walter Benjamin fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG) under project no. 510684314. C.A.-W. was supported by the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships programme, administered by the government of Canada. G.C. acknowledges the support of the DFG research unit (FOR2793/2) investigating the ‘Sensitivity of High Alpine Geosystems to Climate Change since 1850’ (SEHAG) under grant CH981/3-2. F.D. acknowledges funding from the Dirección de Fomento de la Investigación at PUCP. I.d.G. acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under grant agreement GROW-101041110. V.Y. was supported by Nazarbayev University under CRP research grant no. 021220CRP2122. We thank D. Masovic of VAW, ETH Zurich, for drawing Fig. 1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW), ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Marit van Tiel & Daniel Farinotti

  2. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Marit van Tiel & Daniel Farinotti

  3. Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands

    Caroline Aubry-Wake & Walter Immerzeel

  4. Department of Civil and Resource Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Lauren Somers

  5. Géosciences Rennes, Univ Rennes, CNRS, UMR 6118, Rennes, France

    Christoff Andermann

  6. CIMA Research Foundation, Savona, Italy

    Francesco Avanzi

  7. Hydrology, Climate and Climate Change Laboratory, École de Technologie Superieure, University of Quebec, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Michel Baraer

  8. Hydrology and River Basin Management, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Gabriele Chiogna

  9. GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Gabriele Chiogna

  10. Geology Laboratory, École Normale Supérieure - PSL & CNRS, UMR 8538, Paris, France

    Clémence Daigre

  11. Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

    Soumik Das

  12. Geography and the Environment, Department of Humanities, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Peru

    Fabian Drenkhan

  13. Cryopshere and Mountain Hydrosphere, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneubrug, Austria

    Catriona L. Fyffe

  14. Earth Systems and Global Change Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Inge de Graaf

  15. Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Sarah Hanus

  16. Institute of Hydrology and Water Management, BOKU University, Vienna, Austria

    Franziska Koch

  17. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Jeffrey M. McKenzie

  18. Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, IDYST, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Tom Müller

  19. Institute of Geography (GIUB), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Tom Müller & Bettina Schaefli

  20. Hydrological Research Unit, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), Norrköping, Sweden

    Andrea L. Popp

  21. Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Andrea L. Popp

  22. Department of Geography and Environmental Science (GES), University of Reading, Reading, UK

    Zarina Saidaliyeva

  23. Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Bettina Schaefli

  24. Hydrogeology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Oliver S. Schilling

  25. Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland

    Oliver S. Schilling

  26. Département Sciences pour les Sols et Sous-Sols, IFP Energies Nouvelles, Rueil-Malmaison, France

    Kapiolani Teagai

  27. Mountain Research Initiative, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    James M. Thornton

  28. School of Mining and Geosciences, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan

    Vadim Yapiyev

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Contributions

M.v.T., C.A.-W. and L.S. conceived and designed the study, developed the figures and wrote the paper. M.v.T. and C.A.-W. prepared Supplementary Table 1. C.A., C.D., C.L.F., F.A., F.K., G.C., K.T., M.B., S.H., T.M., V.Y. and Z.S. assisted in the writing of the workshop outputs that formed the basis of this Perspective. A.L.P., B.S., D.F., F.D., J.M.T. and O.S.S. contributed to the writing and editing of the paper. M.v.T., C.A.-W., L.S., A.L.P., B.S., C.A., C.D., C.L.F., D.F., F.A., F.D., F.K., G.C., I.d.G., J.M.M., J.M.T., K.T., M.B., O.S.S., S.D., S.H., T.M., V.Y., W.I. and Z.S. contributed to the discussions that led to the writing of this paper, provided feedback on the draft and approved the final version of the paper.

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Correspondence to Marit van Tiel.

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van Tiel, M., Aubry-Wake, C., Somers, L. et al. Cryosphere–groundwater connectivity is a missing link in the mountain water cycle. Nat Water 2, 624–637 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00277-8

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