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Description
The project has three main objectives focused on three temporal scales addressing climate landforms dynamics variability in the past (the Holocene), present/recent time (multi-decadal scale) and future (21st century). They are grouped on the frame of four work packages, i. e. project management (1), mountain research (2), deltaic/fluvial research (3) and comparison of the sensitivity of the two environments (4). The mountain research WP aims at documenting the deglaciation chronology, glacial/periglacial transition and past rock slopes and landslide activity, characterizing recent climate trends and geomorphological dynamics and modeling permafrost distribution and hazard susceptibility. This research comes as a follow up of a former project (MedAlp) that investigated preliminary permafrost and periglacial processes, glacial lakes sediments and past climate changes in the Carpathians. The deltaic research WP aims at deciphering in detail Danube delta system evolution, assessing its responses to sea-level rise, climate variability and anthropic pressure and also at finding solutions for mitigating the increasing risk of delta plain sinking and coastal flooding and erosion hazards. State of the art methods in coring, sedimentological analysis, datings, subsidence rates assessment and computer modeling will be implemented. Several former national projects on past and present Danube delta morphodynamics, climate change impact and geoarchaeology set the stage for the current approach. The mountain-delta comparison WP assures the synergy of the project and proposes an interdisciplinary and integrative approach of sediment fluxes, landforms dynamics, their climate change sensitivity and hazards and risk assessment and mitigation measures from the two opposed but strongly connected environments via sediment transfer. This WP also prepares and introduces future work that could be related to source-to-sink model development in the Carpathian-Danube-Black Sea region.
Summary of project results
The aim of the ClimaLand project was primarily to advance knowledge on climate change and extreme events variability in the Southern Carpathians and the Danube Delta at different timescales, from the early Holocene to the present. Both the Danube Delta and the Carpathians are among Romania''s most climate-sensitive environments, making this region a key one for understanding the interplay between climate and the geomorphologic landscape evolution. ClimaLAND project aimed to improve the knowledge of (1) regional climate changes and extreme natural phenomena, (2) their impact on landform and process changes and (3) of future expected evolution in order to mitigate associated risks in the Carpathians and Danube delta and floodplain. There have been particular efforts towards introducing modern modelling techniques to assess permafrost distribution and climate change for this fragile mountain region and for the reconstruction of the Lower Danube Valley and Danube Delta response to sea-level rise during the Holocene. This was designed on an interdisciplinary approach and at a multi-temporal scale with the purpose of broadening the perspectives on immediate and long-term response of landforms to climate forcing.
During the project we have produced (1) a modeling and a detailed mapping of permafrost presence in the Southern Carpathians, (2) a climate downscaling toolbox (open-sourced) that is nowadays used internationally in a number of mountain climate related projects, (3) a comprehensive climate dataset for the period 1940 to 2020 over the Southern Carpathian range, (4) reference in-situ rock glaciers high resolution 3-dimensional maps and geophysical internal characterization, an (5) inSAR velocity mapping of rock glaciers, (6) an extensive geochronological database of glacial and periglacial features in the Southern Carpathians, (7) high-resolution monitoring of landslides by remote sensing, (8) reconstructions of the Lower Danube Valley and Danube Delta response to sea-level rise, (9) database of present delta sedimentation rates, (10) modeling of the long-term delta lobe evolution scenarios as response to climate change. All these results were based on data collected during field campaigns (rock sampling, tree ring sampling, geophysical and remote sensing measurements, drilling and coring) which were combined with modeling softwares (MIKE, DELFT 3D) essential in achieving the objectives of the project. We developed a new continuous monitoring network of climatic parameters in the periglacial environment. We developed the reference pollen database for SE Europe. Implementation of activities is presented on project website climaland.unibuc.ro.
We developed the first permafrost distribution model across all Southern Carpathians, identifying approximately 16 km2 of probable permafrost area, with importance on the rheology, hydrology, and ecology of mountains. In Făgăraș Mountains, we constructed a high-resolution chronology of snow avalanche occurrence over the last century. A new toolbox to downscale ERA5 reanalysis data has been written and publicly released, allowing downscaling climate in any mountain region. Based on absolute ages, we documented Younger Dryas and Early Holocene glaciers formation in Făgăraș Massif and rock slope failures that followed deglaciation. Dating rock glaciers certified their formation and decay under Holocene climatic oscillations.
The response of Danube delta to climate changes was addressed by long-term delta lobe evolution modeling which used measured meteo-marine forcing (waves, winds) and intercepted stratigrapy (based on cores and drills) . A major breakthrough was achieved in modelling, for the first time, of complex asymmetric wave influenced delta lobes. Sedimentation rates of delta plain morphological units were estimated by correlating sediment accumulation with environmental factors and human interventions, showing that channel construction and dike emplacement significantly impact sedimentation rates, influencing the balance between natural sediment flux and anthropogenic modifications, improving resilience and increasing local people adaptation capacity.
The results of the project are fundamentally scientific and consist in scientific papers and databases. The activities and achievements were periodically presented and are available on the project website. Results are presented as detailed reports and the list of conference presentations and published/submitted papers is available. The climate toolbox is freely available on github, and most of published papers are open source. Since the management plans and strategies of environmental protected areas should be updated every 10 years, we expect that our project results will be integrated in the future policy documents at least for Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve and Retezat National Park. The project management imposed for this type of grants increased experience of Romanian partners'' administrative departments in handling international projects in order to access future funding from international programs, contributing to institutional and human capacities development. There is still a large amount of data resulting from the project to be used and disseminated with implication of all partners. Data to be collected on rock glaciers thermal regime and by the weather station are to be shared and used by any of the partners. On these premises, the collaboration will virtually continue at least in the following years.
Summary of bilateral results
ClimaLAND project facilitated training of four Romanian young researchers, who participated in scientific activities organised by UiO, benefiting from expertise in permafrost research, while experts from WUT and UB enhanced their skills in modelling permafrost distribution, conducting geophysical surveys and mapping permafrost in high mountain regions. These skills are crucial for Romanian researchers as they continue investigating permafrost-related issues. Connections established through ClimaLAND are expected to be instrumental in implementing future projects in Romania. The project helped overall strengthening relations with partners from Norway. Collaboration between WUT and UiO continued in the ESA CCI Permafrost, where both institutions are involved. A COST proposal entitled „Coordinated and Standardized Monitoring of Permafrost Response to Climate Change”, in which both Romanian and Norwegian partners are involved, was submitted in November 2023. UiO facilitated collaborations between Romanian and Norwegian scientists from other institutions (e.g., NORCE) and other internationally recognized experts.