Mountain and snow-dominated regions, including the poles, are global hotspots of rapid environmental change, but our ability to accurately predict water availability and ecosystem resilience in these systems is challenged by rapid shifts in snow dynamics, permafrost thawing, vegetation growth, and natural hazards including hydroclimatic extremes. To predict how these regions will respond to short-term events such as droughts, as well as long-term changes in climate or land use, it is crucial to understand how distinct processes, such as snow melt, groundwater movement, evapotranspiration, and vegetation demography interact. While individual processes have been intensely investigated in the past, large uncertainties still exist in their synoptic understanding which requires the concurrent analysis of atmospheric, cryospheric, hydrological, ecological, and social systems. This session invites contributions that advance integrative studies of landscape dynamics. We welcome work based on field observations, remote sensing, and modelling, ranging from process-based to machine-learning approaches, that address interactions among processes and system components. Contributions exploring extreme events, cross-scale feedbacks, surface-atmosphere interactions, comparative systems, and the societal relevance of water resources are particularly encouraged. By fostering dialogue across disciplines and regions, this session aims to build an integrated understanding of ecohydrological change in places where snow accumulation or topography play dominant roles in regulating water availability, boundary-layer fluxes, and vegetation productivity.
Vigdis Vandvik