By combining in situ mass balance data with a physics‐based snow model at Mt. Ortles, in the Italian Alps, we investigate snow accumulation, erosion and melt processes, and their sensitivity to air temperature. We found that wind erosion is currently the major ablation process at this high-elevation site, whereas melt plays a minor role. Quickly rising air temperature is affecting this partitioning and suggests a future shift from an erosion-dominated to a melt-dominated mass balance regime.

Paleoclimatic glacial archives in low-latitude mountains are increasingly affected by melt, causing heavy percolation and removing snow and firn accumulated across months, seasons, or even years. Here we present a proxy system model that explicitly accounts for melt in ice and firn cores. Compared to traditional annual layer counting, the model significantly improved the interpretation and annual dating of the Mt Ortles firn core, in the Italian Alps, which includes the very warm summer of 2003.

We investigate the factors controlling the soil organic carbon (SOC) stability and temperature sensitivity of abandoned prehistoric agricultural terrace soils. Results suggest that the burial of former topsoil due to terracing provided an SOC stabilization mechanism. Both the soil C : N ratio and SOC mineral protection regulate soil SOC temperature sensitivity. However, which mechanism predominantly controls SOC temperature sensitivity depends on the age of the buried terrace soils.