Latest posts for the topic "Skiing holidays in a changing climate"

Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Mon, 20 Feb 2017 11:18:23 GMT

Would really appreciate if you can fill this survey in as it would be a massive help for my dissertation. It will take approximately 5 minutes to complete the 16 questions.
https://nottingham.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/skiing-holidays-in-a-changing-climate

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Mon, 20 Feb 2017 18:01:37 GMT

Done. You might want to re-think the question about where people mostly ski (Q2?) and allow respondents to tick more than one. Many of us don't stick to just one country.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Mon, 20 Feb 2017 18:16:24 GMT

Done, but some of the questions are very badly thought out. The amount of water to cover 1 hectare (I paraphrase)? How deep? It will take a great deal more to cover it to a depth of 1m rather than 1cm.
Also, artificial snow is used by resorts to improve the quality of natural snow, not just to make pistes for skiers.
It should also be noted that many ski resorts are situated in areas with very high precipitation which has promted the construction of large hydroelectric dams and power stations; the water and the electricity are natural and local resources.
Asking respondents to guess the amounts of water and electricity consumed is a cheap way to create a "skiers cluless about environmental impact" headlines.
Apart from all that, I wish you well with your research and look forward to seeing the results.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Mon, 20 Feb 2017 23:15:03 GMT

Survey is quite badly thought out, and some of the questions are loaded.

There is an assumption of global warming, whereas many scientists are now considering a change towards global cooling.

The questions presume man made causes. Nowhere do I see any reference to cyclical nature of sun spot activity, volcanic activity or any of the other dozen or so non man made causes.

Asking skiers which single country they ski in? Over 12 countries in three continents.

You might start by learning about the stringent ecological controls operated by countries such as Austria and Switzerland.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Tue, 21 Feb 2017 08:46:47 GMT

Completed and comments added.

Guys, not sure the public 'feedback' is warranted. They have left a personal email address at the start of the survey... could have used that instead.

Good luck with the study

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Tue, 21 Feb 2017 22:25:55 GMT

Snowsnail wrote:
Guys, not sure the public 'feedback' is warranted. They have left a personal email address at the start of the survey... could have used that instead.

We all have different experiences, and we all learn off each other. We could not do this if we could not read each other's observations. Our comments are modified by reading others, adding to our own observations.

In public commenting, we are giving consolidated feedback to the OPs. It is clear that they have a mission, and good luck to that.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Fri, 3 Mar 2017 11:48:08 GMT

Dave Mac wrote:

There is an assumption of global warming, whereas many scientists are now considering a change towards global cooling.

Usually when people make such ridiculous claims they should at least provide citations.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Fri, 3 Mar 2017 12:19:43 GMT

Just to let you know, the snow is not measured by area, it's usually measured by volume, so you need to ask how much water it takes to produce a cubic meter of snow, or at least specify how thickly you want this hectare covered, since this will greatly affect the result. I assumed for the purpose of some questions the thickness of 10 cm.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Sat, 4 Mar 2017 23:58:36 GMT

verbier_ski_bum wrote:

Dave Mac wrote:

There is an assumption of global warming, whereas many scientists are now considering a change towards global cooling.

Usually when people make such ridiculous claims they should at least provide citations.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/03/cooks-97-consensus-disproven-by-a-new-paper-showing-major-math-errors/

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Sun, 5 Mar 2017 22:38:10 GMT

There may be still some doubts about whether global warming is taking place, but alpine warming is in full swing. The temperature rise in Austria since ca. 1880 amounts to nearly 2oC, compared to average global warming of 0.85oC

People visiting the alps in winter probably won't notice much difference as the temperature increase has mainly taken place in spring summer and autumn, and the effects on precipitation have been masked by snowmaking and snow management.

Last week I watched a program on the German TV channel 3sat "Der Schnee von Morgen" (The Snow of Tomorrow) in it Michael Manhart the managing director of the Bergbahn Lech - Oberlech who is known in the industry as the 'Snow Pope' said that the quantity of natural snow these days was insignificant, his exact words were "Mickey Mouse"

Locally over the last 25 years I have seen several climate related changes, the Scots pines are dying out at lower altitudes and being replaced by downy oaks which normally grow in submediterranean regions. Most of our drinking water is provided by springs that are fed by snow melt, these are providing less water than they used to.

This week there was a report in the local paper that said that because of the small amount of natural snow we have received this season (30-60% of the average amount) Sass Fee and Zermatt may not be able to open their summer ski areas.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Mon, 6 Mar 2017 08:25:31 GMT

Done. Question regarding skiing in 50 years time is interesting. With current trends, I imagine the industry will have been decimated and will have become a rich person's sport...

There ends my cheery Monday morning post!

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Mon, 6 Mar 2017 15:28:47 GMT

bedrock barney wrote:Done. Question regarding skiing in 50 years time is interesting. With current trends, I imagine the industry will have been decimated and will have become a rich person's sport...

There ends my cheery Monday morning post!

I expect to be dead by then so will probably have given up skiing :oops: . The OECD actually did a serious study of this and concluded that resorts below 2000m would probably no longer be able to operate. However, a concern about skiing seems somewhat crass compared with the wider ramifications. If the global warming predictions are correct and the progression continues over that period, skiing will be the least of the world's problems. Even an average 2 degrees increase in global temperatures would wipe out or displace a large proportion of the world's population. For example, most of Bangladesh would be under water while even the likes of East Anglia could find itself uninhabitable :shock:.

Here is a link to the OECD Study http://www.oecd.org/env/cc/climatechangeintheeuropeanalpsadaptingwintertourismandnaturalhazardsmanagement.htm. The full Study has to be bought but there is an Executive Summary available from this page.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Tue, 14 Mar 2017 22:18:32 GMT

I don't think that anyone denies that the climate does not change. It has done so for millions of years. The change has been multi-directional.
However, the proposition is that the change is predominately man made. There are a number of different causes of climate change. One of the most prominent is sun spot activity. It was assumed that this was cyclical, but it looks like this is not the case.

There is a train of thought that SS activity is reducing, and this will have a cooling effect.

Sadly, (for me), I can look BACK 50 years at snow conditions. There is little difference, then and now. The warmest period I can recall was January ~ April 1972, when it did not snow.

You will not find this an any graph or chart. It pre-dated machine snow, and the ski school was in-operational for 3 months.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Tue, 14 Mar 2017 22:31:29 GMT

Oh, and Verbier Ski Bum called my comments "ridiculous". This was a surprise, since I hold VSB in the highest regard. There was no response when I gave the citation asked for. I could have given hundreds of citations.

I am an engineer, and together with many scientists there is a common view that CC is a naturally occurring feature.

Climate change scientists hold a different view, but then, their jobs depend on it. The citation points out that although the CC carbon agreements are based on 97% of CC scientists believing in the man made causal effects, many, many of the scientists quoted subsequently denied holding that view.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 06:55:16 GMT

Dave Mac wrote:

verbier_ski_bum wrote:

Dave Mac wrote:

There is an assumption of global warming, whereas many scientists are now considering a change towards global cooling.

Usually when people make such ridiculous claims they should at least provide citations.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/03/cooks-97-consensus-disproven-by-a-new-paper-showing-major-math-errors/

I meant a reputable source. Anthony Watts is a colledge drop-out and a TV weather man. It's cute of him to have a blog, but he is talking out of his backside. His blog is widely known as LOLWUWT.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Wed, 22 Mar 2017 07:11:59 GMT

Dave Mac wrote:Oh, and Verbier Ski Bum called my comments "ridiculous". This was a surprise, since I hold VSB in the highest regard. There was no response when I gave the citation asked for. I could have given hundreds of citations.

I am an engineer, and together with many scientists there is a common view that CC is a naturally occurring feature.

Climate change scientists hold a different view, but then, their jobs depend on it. The citation points out that although the CC carbon agreements are based on 97% of CC scientists believing in the man made causal effects, many, many of the scientists quoted subsequently denied holding that view.

Being an engineer doesn't make you a scientist.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Wed, 22 Mar 2017 08:52:42 GMT

verbier_ski_bum wrote:Being an engineer doesn't make you a scientist.

You sure about that? 8)

Engineer - a person who is trained in or follows as a profession a branch of engineering.

Engineering - the application of science and mathematics by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy in nature are made useful to people.

Isn't an engineer, by definition, an "applied scientist"?

You may not agree with Watts (and I often don't FWIW), but his blog does at least usually reference the science and observations that drive his opinions.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Thu, 23 Mar 2017 07:40:35 GMT

Yes I am sure about this. Scientists are above all trained in scientfic method and research. Learning science for practical application doesn't make one a scientist. And no scientist will ever use or cite a dubious blog run by a TV weather man as a "source".

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Thu, 23 Mar 2017 07:57:25 GMT

Watts may have as many opinions as any other person, it doesn't mean they have any value. He selects the science that fits his agenda out of the large body of science that doesn't and tries to pass it as a revelation. Just the fact that his favorite trick is to point at the map and say "oh, it's cold there" in support of his position should speak volumes. I just find it bizarre that he is given any credibility by anyone above 14.

Re:Skiing holidays in a changing climate

Thu, 23 Mar 2017 21:18:21 GMT

Personally, I just believe what David Attenborough tells me :)