Declining snow cover and a shrinking winter season could plunge water supplies, agriculture and ecosystems into crisis.
Snow cover in Greece's mountains - an important source of water for communities, agriculture and natural ecosystems during the dry summer months - has more than halved over the past four decades, according to a new study.
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An international team of researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, used a combination of satellite imagery, climate data, terrain maps and artificial intelligence to analyse how rising temperatures in the Mediterranean have affected snow cover in the Greek mountains.
Using a tool called SnowMapper, the researchers found that snow cover has declined by 58 per cent over the last 40 years, and the rate of decline has accelerated since the beginning of the 21st century. In addition, the snow season now starts later and ends earlier.
The researchers used satellite images from NASA and ESA missions, but because clouds or shadows often prevent clear observation, the team used machine learning to fill in the many gaps.
This created a tool that provides daily snow cover maps with 100-metre resolution for 10 of Greece's highest mountain formations from 1984 to 2025.
The results showed that Greece is losing winter snow cover faster than most other mountain ranges, which can have serious implications for communities, agriculture and nature.
The loss of snow cover from the world's mountains is another important indicator of how climate change continues to put pressure on the natural environment, particularly in countries like Greece, where catchments are small, winter temperatures are already near freezing and snowmelt helps protect against drought during the hot summer months.
The study was co-authored by Konstantinos Alexopoulos and Professor Ian Willis of the Scott Polar Research Centre at the University of Cambridge.
The research team also included scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, the National Observatory of Athens and the Hellenic Mountain Observatory. The research was funded in part by the Bodossaki Foundation, the George & George Foundation, the National Geological Survey of Greece, Cambridge Trust and the Royal Geographical Society.
