Mountain water resources are changing rapidly as glaciers, snow, permafrost and high-elevation ecosystems respond to climate change. Yet, global assessments often rely on simplified representations of mountain processes, while detailed physics-based models are usually limited to regional scales.
MountAInWater aims to bridge this gap by developing a multi-scale modelling framework for mountain water resources worldwide. The project combines intensive field observations at high-elevation supersites in the Canadian Rockies, the Andes, the Pamir and the Himalaya with advanced land-surface modelling and artificial intelligence. This will enable a global reanalysis of cryospheric change and mountain water fluxes at high resolution.
Objectives
The overall research question of MountAInWater is:
How is the water supply from the world’s mountain ranges changing and which non-linear feedbacks may cause unprecedented societal impacts?
The project aims to:
- To understand non-linear feedbacks and tipping points in the mountain cryosphere that can change the mountain water cycle significantly and irreversibly.
- To generate the first global reanalysis of mountain water resources that includes non-linear feedbacks and critical transitions.
- To perform an impact analysis of changes in mountain water supply, for downstream water users and ecosystems at hotspots of current and future changes.
- To produce sustainable strategies for mountain water resources and equitable downstream water use
Approach
MountAInWater follows a “local to global and back to regional” approach. Detailed field data and model simulations from the supersites are used to improve process understanding and train AI-based modelling tools. These tools will then be applied across the world’s major mountain ranges to assess past, present and future changes in water availability.
The project also zooms back in on vulnerable regional hotspots, where scientific results will be translated into practical information for water management and climate adaptation. By combining fieldwork, remote sensing, high-resolution modelling, AI and stakeholder engagement, MountAInWater will provide new insights into the future of mountain water resources and their importance for downstream societies and ecosystems.
MountAInWater is led by the Institute of Science and Technology Austria and funded by Schmidt Sciences through the Virtual Institute for Earth’s Water programme. The Mountain Hydrology Group at Utrecht University contributes to process understanding in the Himalaya region and to the assessment of downstream impacts of changing mountain water resources.