Alpine Landscapes Research Articles

Nature and femininity in Raphaela Edelbauer’s Das flüssige Land — Fluid concepts in a liquid land

An allegedly unspoilt natural landscape is a crucial backbone of Austria’s national brand and yet, a look behind the façade of this ‘Goldener Landschaftsmythos’, reveals that nature plays a complex and paradoxical role in Austrian self-stylisation and culture: the very system that relies on its pristineness exploits and degrades it. Edelbauer’s 2019 novel Das flüssige Land draws on this tension and brings it into conversation with essentialist views of femininity, rejecting expectations of women as inherently connected with nature and protective of it. The female protagonist’s relationship with the Alpine landscape is fluid, ambivalent, and paradoxical and — as it oscillates between care and exploitation, connection and disdain — it invites an approach from the angle of social ecofeminism that calls for an overcoming of essentialist claims about women and nature.

KASHMIR TOURISM: POSSIBILITIES AND CHALLENGES

Jammu and Kashmir has been a famous tourist destination for decades, making it one of the world's most popular places. As long as there have been lush forests, refreshing springs, beautiful gardens, perennial rivers, spectacular alpine landscapes, and pleasant temperatures, the state of Jammu and Kashmir will continue to be recognised as a famous tourist destination across the globe. Resources have been opened up, both in terms of investment and generation, resulting in job creation and socioeconomic development for the local community; poverty reduction and sustainable development have also been achieved. Jammu and Kashmir's integration with the rest of the globe has been facilitated by tourism. The region's social and economic environment is impacted by the influx of tourists, who number in the millions each year. It is estimated that between 50 and 60 percent of the people in J&K are employed in the state's tourism business in some capacity. The tourist sector contributes around 15% to the state's gross domestic product. In spite of its prominence in the state's economy, substantial attempts have not yet been made to determine the impact of J&K's most important industry. Both real and perceived threats in the local community may be blamed on tourism. Cultural identity may be at risk due to tourism's move toward catering to tourists' expectations and needs, particularly those from local and global markets, according to some experts. In Jammu and Kashmir, concerns have been voiced about the socio-cultural, economic, and environmental consequences of these trends. This study aimed at shedding light on the prospects as well as issues confronting the Jammu and Kashmir tourism industry.

Alpine plant communities differ in their seed germination requirements along a snowmelt gradient in the Caucasus

Mesoscale heterogeneity of alpine landscapes generates snowmelt gradients resulting in a distinct vegetation zonation from almost snow-free fellfields to long-lasting snowbeds. Although the vegetative trait variation along such gradients has been intensively studied, little is known about whether and how seed germination is adapted to the variable snowpack duration. Here, we compare the seed germination niches of 18 characteristic plant species occurring in four distinct plant communities (alpine lichen heath—Festuca varia grassland—Geranium-Hedysarum meadow—snowbed) along an alpine snowmelt gradient in the North Caucasus (Russia). In a fully factorial experiment, we tested seed germination responses to temperature (10/2, 14/6, 18/10, 22/14, 26/18 and 30/22 °C) and water potential (0, − 0.2, − 0.4, − 0.6 and − 0.8 MPa) gradients, reflecting the full spectrum of seedling establishment conditions in the study system. Community-specific germination niches were identified by generalised mixed model with Bayesian estimation. Our study revealed that the species from the four focal communities significantly differed in their temperature requirements for germination, whereas soil moisture was found to be a limiting factor for seedling establishment along the entire gradient. The snowbed germination was constrained to comparatively high temperatures above 10 °C, whereas seed germination in alpine lichen heaths occurred under a wide range of experimental conditions. The seed germination patterns of species from Festuca varia grasslands and Geranium-Hedysarum meadows reflected their intermediate position along the snowmelt gradient. We conclude that seed germination niche is affected by the environmental filtering along the snowmelt gradient thus departing from the general alpine germination syndrome.

Sustainable Conservation and Management of a 20th-Century Landscape in the Alps: The Former Sanatorium Village of Sondalo

This article discusses how to sustainably manage and protect the Alpine landscape from the risk of extreme weather events due to climate change. The authors present the results achieved by applying the Conservation and Management Plan (CMP) method in the case of a large terraced healing park built in the Central Alps in the 1930s and damaged in 2018 by the effects of Storm Adrian (also known as Vaia). We thoroughly analysed the state of preservation through historical documentation, aerial shooting with a drone, a tree-by-tree evaluation, and a GIS platform for integrated information management. Such a CMP approach is usually applied to assess the state of decay and plan for the sustainable conservation of historic buildings and gardens. The method of analysis and the performed activities allowed us to evaluate the park’s landscape values and identify the elements of risk, leading to the drafting of a monitoring map and guidelines of intervention. This experience made it possible to test its effectiveness in protecting the Alpine landscape and its specific fragility.

How Snow Leopards Share the Same Landscape with Tibetan Agro-pastoral Communities in the Chinese Himalayas

The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) inhabits a human-altered alpine landscape and is often tolerated by residents in regions where the dominant religion is Tibetan Buddhism, including in Qomolangma NNR on the northern side of the Chinese Himalayas. Despite these positive attitudes, many decades of rapid economic development and population growth can cause increasing disturbance to the snow leopards, altering their habitat use patterns and ultimately impacting their conservation. We adopted a dynamic landscape ecology perspective and used multi-scale technique and occupancy model to better understand snow leopard habitat use and coexistence with humans in an 825 km2 communal landscape. We ranked eight hypothetical models containing potential natural and anthropogenic drivers of habitat use and compared them between summer and winter seasons within a year. HABITAT was the optimal model in winter, whereas ANTHROPOGENIC INFLUENCE was the top ranking in summer (AICcw≤2). Overall, model performance was better in the winter than in the summer, suggesting that perhaps some latent summer covariates were not measured. Among the individual variables, terrain ruggedness strongly affected snow leopard habitat use in the winter, but not in the summer. Univariate modeling suggested snow leopards prefer to use rugged land in winter with a broad scale (4000 m focal radius) but with a lesser scale in summer (30 m); Snow leopards preferred habitat with a slope of 22° at a scale of 1000 m throughout both seasons, which is possibly correlated with prey occurrence. Furthermore, all covariates mentioned above showed inextricable ties with human activities (presence of settlements and grazing intensity). Our findings show that multiple sources of anthropogenic activity have complex connections with snow leopard habitat use, even under low human density when anthropogenic activities are sparsely distributed across a vast landscape. This study is also valuable for habitat use research in the future, especially regarding covariate selection for finite sample sizes in inaccessible terrain.

LANDSCAPE DIVERSITY OF THE NATIONAL DENDROLOGICAL PARK "SOFIYIVKA" OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF UKRAINE

The article reveals the landscape diversity of the historical garden and park landscape – the National Dendrological Park "Sofiyivka" of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in the city of Uman, Cherkasy region, founded in 1796-1800. In the classification of landscape gardening landscapes, developed by the Ukrainian landscape architect, doctor of biological sciences Rubtsov L.I., 6 types of landscapes are distinguished. The landscape of the NDP "Sofiyivka", as an object of landscape gardening art, belongs to the group of anthropogenic landscapes and is classified as a cultural, recreational, slightly modified landscape (historical core of the park) and modified landscape (Grekova and Lesnaya beams). On the territory of the arboretum, all types of landscape gardening landscapes are presented: forest, park, meadow, garden, regular, alpine landscapes. Most of the historical core of the park is occupied by the park landscape; the forest landscape has been preserved closer to the boundaries of the arboretum. The meadow landscape exists both at the bottom of the beams and in elevated places, such as on the Fungus lawn. The garden type of landscape is presented in the English Park, created in 1890 91 by Pashkevich V.V. and in a series of new monocultural gardens (of lilacs, magnolias, maples, chrysanthemums, dahlias, daylilies, hosts, etc.). The Kamyanka River is an alpine (or mountainous) type of garden and park landscape due to natural granite outcrops and shifted boulders. Examples of the regular landscape are the amphitheater, alleys, greenery protection strips, as well as the regularly planned area of the new entrance to the arboretum from the street Kyivskaya with a fountain and a rosary. These garden and park landscapes of the arboretum "Sofiyivka" are the most valuable natural ecosystem formations within the arboretum, which must be preserved and maintained accordance with the strategic principles of ecological unity and reproduction of natural resources.

Mountain Hiking vs. Forest Therapy: A Study Protocol of Novel Types of Nature-Based Intervention.

Introduction: The global rise of urbanization has much triggered scientific interest in how nature impacts on human health. Natural environments, such as alpine landscapes, forests, or urban green spaces, are potential high-impact health resources. While there is a growing body of evidence to reveal a positive influence of these natural environments on human health and well-being, further investigations guided by rigorous evidence-based medical research are very much needed. Objective: The present study protocol aims at testing research methodologies in the context of a prospective clinical trial on nature-based interventions. This shall improve the standards of medical research in human–nature interactions. Methods: The ANKER Study investigates the influence of two novel types of nature-based therapy—mountain hiking and forest therapy—on physiological, psychological, and immunological parameters of couples with a sedentary lifestyle. Two intervention groups were formed and spent a seven-day holiday in Algund, Italy. The “forest therapy group” participated in daily guided low-power nature connection activities. The “hiking group”, by contrast, joined in a daily moderate hiking program. Health-related quality of life and relationship quality are defined as primary outcomes. Secondary outcomes include nature connection, balance, cardio-respiratory fitness, fractional exhaled nitric oxide, body composition and skin hydration. Furthermore, a new approach to measure health-related quality of life is validated. The so-called “intercultural quality of life” comic assesses the health-related quality of life with a digitally animated comic-based tool.

Wild carnivores and Thelazia callipaeda zoonotic eyeworms: A focus on wolves.

Thelazia callipaeda is a zoonotic parasite causing ocular disease in domestic dogs, cats, several wild carnivores, hares, and humans. This nematode is widely distributed in Europe, where it is transmitted by the drosophilid fly Phortica variegata. Since the first report of infection in grey wolves (Canis lupus) from southern Italy, other cases of thelaziosis have been recorded in this animal species throughout Europe, raising questions about their role in spreading T. callipaeda. Indeed, for their wandering behavior through long distances and living in woody areas where the vectors thrive, wolves may act as reservoirs and spreaders of thelaziosis. In this study we reviewed the literature about wolves acting as reservoirs of T. callipaeda in Europe. In addition, we report the first detection of T. callipaeda eyeworms in grey wolves in the Italian Alps, discussing its possible implications in the epidemiology of thelaziosis in the Alpine landscape. Animals (n = 3) included in this study were originated from the Italian Alps, one juvenile male wolf was found dead, and the other two were seven-year-old males translocated from Piedmont region to a Zoological Garden, in Tuscany. All animals were infected with eyeworms, which were morphologically and molecularly identified as T. callipaeda. Data herein presented confirm those available in the literature about the circulation of a unique cox1 haplotype in Europe. In addition, the report of T. callipaeda in wolves from the Alps suggests an ecological continuity of habitats which are suitable for the distribution of T. callipaeda from the southern to northern Italy through the Apennine backbone. Retrospectively, it could also explain the spreading of the oriental eyeworm infection in Europe over the last 20 years with many wild carnivores, such as foxes and possibly wolves, playing a pivotal role as reservoirs of the infection for dogs, cats and humans.

Decline in the alpine landscape aesthetic value in a national park under climate change

Alpine landscapes are projected to be degraded under climate change, which would threaten their benefits to society. Previous studies, however, have been limited to aesthetic change, and it remains unclear how much the aesthetic change would affect human welfare. To address this issue and gain insights into climate change adaptation policies, we conducted a choice experiment survey using digitally manipulated images based on climate change scenarios and natural scientific knowledge in a mountainous national park in Japan. We uncovered that park visitors appreciate the alpine landscapes that include snow patches on mountains and some types of alpine flowers by analyzing the data from 445 respondents. Conversely, both the invasion of alpine vegetation by dwarf bamboo and the disappearance of snow patches due to climate change substantially deteriorated the perceived aesthetic benefits from alpine landscapes. The economic loss caused by climate-induced landscape degradation was estimated at more than 100 USD per visitor, at maximum; the disappearance of snow patches and invasion by dwarf bamboo reduced the benefits by approximately 13 USD and 101 USD, respectively. Our findings suggest that sustaining the aesthetic value of alpine landscapes in national parks via climate change adaptation has potentially significant economic benefits. By supposing that the mountain national park attracts 70,000 visitors in summer, climate change would cause as a minimum of eight million USD economic loss at the park without appropriate measures annually. Our findings highlight the importance of climate change measures by considering climate change impacts on social benefits associated with alpine landscapes.

Coping with changing plant–plant interactions in restoration ecology: Effect of species, site, and individual variation

AbstractQuestionNurse–beneficiary plant interactions are often used to restore degraded habitats. However, whether and how shifts in plant–plant interactions along the facilitation–competition continuum alter revegetation success has been seldom considered. To test whether and how shifts in plant–plant interactions (due to woody species identity, study site, early life stage, and individual nurse) might alter plant recruitment and thus the success of revegetation projects, we chose a system comprising the Mediterranean dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis) and seven common woody plant species.LocationTwo human‐degraded sites within Doñana National Park (southwestern Spain).MethodsWe carried out several well‐replicated field experiments to compare plant performance (seed survival, seedling emergence, seedling survival, seedling recruitment) in the presence and absence of Chamaerops humilis.ResultsChamaerops humilis had marked effects on the performance of woody species that, however, changed among life stages. Depending on woody species identity, seed survival was up to 193 times greater in adjacent open spaces than beneath Chamaerops humilis. Conversely, seedling survival and recruitment were up to 19 times greater beneath Chamaerops humilis than in open spaces. Importantly, none of the studied woody species showed greater accumulated recruitment in open spaces than beneath Chamaerops humilis. Interestingly, we found strong inter‐individual palm variation in the sign and strength of their effect on woody plant performance.ConclusionsWe found strong seed–seedling conflicts the strength of which was species‐specific. The strong inter‐individual palm variation depicts a facilitation–competition continuum with important implications for restoration. We propose several management recommendations across different hierarchical levels (i.e., from individuals to communities) that may increase plant recruitment and therefore the success of revegetation projects. Our results are particularly relevant for restoring arid, semi‐arid and alpine landscapes worldwide where the nurse–beneficiary plant interactions are critical to ameliorating stressful conditions.

Alpenprojekt

Alpenprojekt videos register the action of cutting the skyline in the alpine mountains. The footage was taken at different sites in the Alps. The cutouts evoke the European tradition from the 18th century to depict portraits with scissors and paper. A deliberate intent to apprehend the landscape within a unique line in a reduced dimension is the main issue in Alpenprojekt I and II. To react in the face of this specific landscape as an effort to embrace what is not controllable became a fundamental issue in the Alpenprojekt series of works. Alpenprojekt began with artistic research related to the southern German region closely connected with its physical landscape. Its representation was then perceived as a memory heritage of historical facts, either forgotten or intentionally lost. The entire project is called Trilogy of the Mountains, and it is related to memory and history. Trilogy of the Mountains comprises three phases: Alpenprojekt, based on the alpine landscape; the second one approaches Beckton Alps, an artificial mountain in east London; and the third part is related to artificial mountains made with war debris in Germany. Each piece of the Trilogy comprises a series of works. The project was initially developed based on landscapes where the notion of Romanticism is still present. Then the project was set toward the post-industrialization period—and finally related to reshaping the topography in Germany after WWII. In Trilogy of Mountains, the tension between natural and artificial is a central issue, being rather complementary than the opposite.

Multiscale analysis of surface roughness for the improvement of natural hazard modelling

Abstract. Surface roughness influences the release of avalanches and the dynamics of rockfall, avalanches and debris flow, but it is often not objectively implemented in natural hazard modelling. For two study areas, a treeline ecotone and a windthrow-disturbed forest landscape of the European Alps, we tested seven roughness algorithms using a photogrammetric digital surface model (DSM) with different resolutions (0.1, 0.5 and 1 m) and different moving-window areas (9, 25 and 49 m2). The vector ruggedness measure roughness algorithm performed best overall in distinguishing between roughness categories relevant for natural hazard modelling (including shrub forest, high forest, windthrow, snow and rocky land cover). The results with 1 m resolution were found to be suitable to distinguish between the roughness categories of interest, and the performance did not increase with higher resolution. In order to improve the roughness calculation along the hazard flow direction, we tested a directional roughness approach that improved the reliability of the surface roughness computation in channelised paths. We simulated avalanches on different elevation models (lidar-based) to observe a potential influence of a DSM and a digital terrain model (DTM) using the simulation tool Rapid Mass Movement Simulation (RAMMS). In this way, we accounted for the surface roughness based on a DSM instead of a DTM, which resulted in shorter simulated avalanche runouts by 16 %–27 % in the two study areas. Surface roughness above a treeline, which in comparison to the forest is not represented within the RAMMS, is therefore underestimated. We conclude that using DSM-based surface roughness in combination with DTM-based surface roughness and considering the directional roughness is promising for achieving better assessment of terrain in an alpine landscape, which might improve the natural hazard modelling.

Towards Better Visualisation of Alpine Quaternary Landform Features on High-Resolution Digital Elevation Models

Alpine topography is formed by a complex series of geomorphological processes that result in a vast number of different landforms. The youngest and most diverse landforms are various Quaternary sedimentary bodies, each characterised by its unique landform features. The formation of Quaternary sedimentary bodies and their features derive from the dominant building sedimentary processes. In recent years, studies of Quaternary sedimentary bodies and processes have been greatly aided by the use of digital elevation models (DEMs) derived by airborne laser scanning (ALS). High-resolution DEMs allow detailed mapping of sedimentary bodies, detection of surface changes, and recognition of the building sedimentary processes. DEMs are often displayed as hillshaded reliefs, the most common visualisation technique, which suffers from the limitation of a single illumination source. As a result, features can be barely visible or even invisible to the viewer if they are parallel to the light source or hidden in the shadow. These limitations become challenging when representing landforms and subtle landscape features in a diverse alpine topography. In this study, we focus on eleven visualisations of Quaternary sedimentary bodies and their sedimentary and morphological features on a 0.5 m resolution DEM. We qualitatively compare analytical hillshading with a set of visualisation techniques contained in the Raster Visualisation Toolbox software, primarily hillshading from multiple directions RGB, 8-bit sky view factor and 8-bit slope. The aim is to determine which visualisation technique is best suited for visual recognition of sedimentary bodies and sedimentation processes in complex alpine landscapes. Detailed visual examination of previously documented Pleistocene moraine and lacustrine deposits, Holocene alluvial fans, scree deposits, debris flow and fluvial deposits on the created visualisations revealed several small-scale morphological and sedimentary features that were previously difficult or impossible to detect on analytical hillshading and aerial photographs. Hillshading from multiple directions resulted in a visualisation that could be universally applied across the mountainous and hilly terrains. In contrast, 8-bit sky view factor and 8-bit slope visualisations created better visibility and facilitated interpretation of subtle and small-scale (less than ten metres) sedimentary and morphological features.

InSAR-based characterization of rock glacier movement in the Uinta Mountains, Utah, USA

Abstract. Rock glaciers are a prominent component of many alpine landscapes and constitute a significant water resource in some arid mountain environments. Here, we employ satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) between 2016 and 2019 to identify and monitor active and transitional rock glaciers in the Uinta Mountains (Utah, USA), an area of ∼3000 km2. We used mean velocity maps to generate an inventory for the Uinta Mountains containing 205 active and transitional rock glaciers. These rock glaciers are 11.9 ha in area on average and located at a mean elevation of 3308 m, where mean annual air temperature is −0.25 ∘C. The mean downslope velocity for the inventory is 1.94 cm yr−1, but individual rock glaciers have velocities ranging from 0.35 to 6.04 cm yr−1. To search for relationships with climatic drivers, we investigated the time-dependent motion of three rock glaciers. We found that rock glacier motion has a significant seasonal component, with rates that are more than 5 times faster during the late summer compared to the rest of the year. Rock glacier velocities also appear to be correlated with the snow water equivalent of the previous winter's snowpack. Our results demonstrate the ability to use satellite InSAR to monitor rock glaciers over large areas and provide insight into the environmental factors that control their kinematics.

The alpine rural landscape as a cultural reserve: the case study of Teglio in Valtellina

This research examines a portion of the Italian alpine landscape in order to find a comprehension mode and a strategic proposal to safeguard this rural heritage. The area is located in Valtellina, in the municipality of Teglio (Sondrio, Italy), between 700 and 1200 m a.s.l. Typical characteristic of the local landscape conformation is fragmentation, which determines a rapidly changing chequerboard depending on the rotation of seasons and cultivation. The landscape alternates wooded and cultivated areas. Cultivations mainly concern rye, buckwheat, corn, barley, alpine wheat, chestnuts and small orchards and have a wide agrobiodiversity and especially a historical and cultural value. The cultivation of buckwheat, for example nustran arrived in the valley in the XVII century and Teglio is the place where it persists more. The genotypes present are in part already classified, in part under study. The vernine crop alternated to buckwheat is mainly rye, arrived in the valley since the XV century. The local varieties formed over time are a resource of genotypes adapted to high altitude agricultural environments, they have important nutraceutical properties and they are closely associated with the local culture. The aim was to verify the persistence of traditional crops in the area, together with the cultural value of the traditional rural system, in order to analyse the feasibility of a strategy for the preservation of biocultural diversity. The research has shown how, despite the dynamics of depopulation and abandonment of agricultural fields, there is still in the area a sufficient permanence of cultural practices and social uses that can be a solid starting point for a sustainable development of the territory that focuses on agricultural and cultural biodiversity.

Short-Term Variability in Alaska Ice-Marginal Lake Area: Implications for Long-Term Studies

Lakes in direct contact with glaciers (ice-marginal lakes) are found across alpine and polar landscapes. Many studies characterize ice-marginal lake behavior over multi-decadal timescales using either episodic ~annual images or multi-year mosaics. However, ice-marginal lakes are dynamic features that experience short-term (i.e., day to year) variations in area and volume superimposed on longer-term trends. Through aliasing, this short-term variability could result in erroneous long-term estimates of lake change. We develop and implement an automated workflow in Google Earth Engine to quantify monthly behavior of ice-marginal lakes between 2013 and 2019 across south-central Alaska using Landsat 8 imagery. We employ a supervised Mahalanobis minimum-distance land cover classifier incorporating three datasets found to maximize classifier performance: shortwave infrared imagery, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and spatially filtered panchromatic reflectance. We observe physically-meaningful ice-marginal lake area variance on sub-annual timescales, with the median area fluctuation of an ice-marginal lake found to be 10.8% of its average area. The median signal (slow lake growth) to noise (physically-meaningful short-term area variability) ratio is 1.5:1, indicating that short-term variability is responsible for ~33% of observed area change in the median ice-marginal lake. The magnitude of short-term area variability is similar for ice-marginal and nonglacial lakes, suggesting that the cause of observed variations is not of glacial origin. These data provide a new context for interpreting behaviors observed in multi-decadal studies and encourage attention to sub-annual behavior of ice-marginal lakes even in long-term studies.

Application of Introduced Representatives of Lonicera pileata Oliv. in Landscaping of the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

This article deals with the possibilities to introduce the ornamental shrub Lonicera pileata Oliv. belonging to Caprifoliaceae Vent. family in the landscaping of the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. The representatives of Lonicera pileata Oliv. (Cultivars Рileata, form Variegata and form Lemon Beauty) endure winter well and adapt to new climatic conditions of the planting site. The plants were found tolerant to shade, cold, pruning, and urban ecological conditions with polluted air. It has been revealed that, depending on the purpose of the landscaping object, these shrubs can perform various functions: create architectural and artistic image of the object; promote biological land reclamation along with other plants; protect against dust and noise; regulate moisture and temperature. Simultaneously, to grow plants of Lonicera pileata Oliv. successfully, it is critical to use farming techniques developed by the author scientists. When the representatives of evergreen shrubs of Lonicera pileata Oliv. are introduced in the landscaping of residential areas, they can be used to decorate landscape-gardening objects with different functional use creating landscape compositions in gardens and parks, on the plots with different exposition and slopes, as anti-erosion plants, in alpine landscapes, as freestanding shrubs or in group plantations, at the background of lawns, in flowerbeds, in alpine screen gardens, in rockeries, in freely growing and trimmed hedges, and as ground-covering plants.

Preserved landscapes underneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet reveal the geomorphological history of Jutulstraumen Basin

AbstractThe landscape of Antarctica, hidden beneath kilometre‐thick ice in most places, has been shaped by the interactions between tectonic and erosional processes. The flow dynamics of the thick ice cover deepened pre‐formed topographic depressions by glacial erosion, but also preserved the subglacial landscapes in regions with moderate to slow ice flow. Mapping the spatial variability of these structures provides the basis for reconstruction of the evolution of subglacial morphology. This study focuses on the Jutulstraumen Glacier drainage system in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. The Jutulstraumen Glacier reaches the ocean via the Jutulstraumen Graben, which is the only significant passage for draining the East Antarctic Ice Sheet through the western part of the Dronning Maud Land mountain chain. We acquired new bed topography data during an airborne radar campaign in the region upstream of the Jutulstraumen Graben to characterise the source area of the glacier. The new data show a deep relief to be generally under‐represented in available bed topography compilations. Our analysis of the bed topography, valley characteristics and bed roughness leads to the conclusion that much more of the alpine landscape that would have formed prior to the Antarctic Ice Sheet is preserved than previously anticipated. We identify an active and deeply eroded U‐shaped valley network next to largely preserved passive fluvial and glacial modified landscapes. Based on the landscape classification, we reconstruct the temporal sequence by which ice flow modified the topography since the beginning of the glaciation of Antarctica.

„Hier ward der Sieg errungen über einen mächtigen, compacten Alpenzug“. Der Semmering in Reiseführern zwischen 1852 und 1873

With the Railway Age, the perception of the landscape has changed. In Austria, the world’s first high mountain railway was built in the middle of the 19th century. It crosses the Alps at one of their eastern foothills, the Semmering. The central subject of this study is the landscape that was completely transformed by the construction of the Semmering Railway between 1852 and 1873. How was the Semmering perceived before it was discovered by the Viennese society as a region of summer resort? How were the massive changes in the Alpine landscape caused by the construction of the railway portrayed in the medium of contemporary travel guides?The sources investigated cover the period from the construction of the Semmering Railway to the discovery of the region as a summer resort. Starting with the first travel guides to the construction site and ending with the travel guides to the completed railway, seven main sources were analysed. As a starting point for the qualitative content analysis, a system of categories was developed as a search grid to filter the relevant aspects for answering the research question. The analysis follows the process of coding, paraphrasing and generalizing, and clearly reveals different levels of perception. The landscape in which the railway was built was described in extremely positive, poetic formulations. The negatively judging descriptions are particularly remarkable in the context of the travel guides, as they can be read as a critical reflection of the changed situation. Instead of regretting the destruction of nature, the victory of man or technology over nature was celebrated. From the comparison of the travel guides to the construction site and those to the completed railway, the progress of the construction work is clearly readable. The magnificence of the construction project was beyond question from the very beginning. The travel guides allow one to comprehend this, at the time rather young, transformation of the landscape; they open up a differentiated view of the landscape.

„Tu dokonało się zwycięstwo nad potężnym, zwartym łańcuchem Alp”. Semmering w przewodnikach między 1852 a 1873 rokiem

With the Railway Age, the perception of the landscape has changed. In Austria, the world’s first high mountain railway was built in the middle of the 19th century. It crosses the Alps at one of their eastern foothills, the Semmering. The central subject of this study is the landscape that was completely transformed by the construction of the Semmering Railway between 1852 and 1873. How was the Semmering perceived before it was discovered by the Viennese society as a region of summer resort? How were the massive changes in the Alpine landscape caused by the construction of the railway portrayed in the medium of contemporary travel guides?The sources investigated cover the period from the construction of the Semmering Railway to the discovery of the region as a summer resort. Starting with the first travel guides to the construction site and ending with the travel guides to the completed railway, seven main sources were analysed. As a starting point for the qualitative content analysis, a system of categories was developed as a search grid to filter the relevant aspects for answering the research question. The analysis follows the process of coding, paraphrasing and generalizing, and clearly reveals different levels of perception. The landscape in which the railway was built was described in extremely positive, poetic formulations. The negatively judging descriptions are particularly remarkable in the context of the travel guides, as they can be read as a critical reflection of the changed situation. Instead of regretting the destruction of nature, the victory of man or technology over nature was celebrated. From the comparison of the travel guides to the construction site and those to the completed railway, the progress of the construction work is clearly readable. The magnificence of the construction project was beyond question from the very beginning. The travel guides allow one to comprehend this, at the time rather young, transformation of the landscape; they open up a differentiated view of the landscape.