Pellicciotti, Francesca, Dr.

List of Publications

Download my List of Publications as a PDF-document

EDUCATION

Research interests

• MEASURING AND MODELLING GLACIER ABLATION
  The interaction between glaciers and climate: modelling the energy balance at the glacier-atmosphere interface at different latitudes. Energy-balance models versus temperature-index glacier melt models, with particular focus on enhanced temperature-index methods. Grid-based, distributed ablation models and the spatial and temporal variability of the meteorological variables.
  • Transferability of model parameters and studies of model robustness. Model sensitivity to variations and quality of the input data; predictions of melt rates using synoptic data. Parameterisations of the meteorological and surface variables driving the melt processes.
  • Understanding the melt process at the point scale: the energy balance of glacier surfaces at different latitudes; analysis of energy-balance components and energy partition under different climatic settings. Importance of the subsurface heat component.
• GLACIER RUNOFF: A KEY TO THE PROCESS OF RUNOFF GENERATION IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS
  Glacier runoff: a complex system and a black box approach for its modelling. Improving the linea reservoir method. Prediction of runoff from glacierised basins. How to take into account the temporal variability of the system in our modelling approaches. The transferability of the linear reservoir parameters.
• HYDROCLIMATIC VARIABILITY AND THE DEBATE ON CLIMATE CHANGE
  Analysis of hydroclimatic variability and climate change using hydroclimatic data. Trend analysis, Mann-Kendall nonparametric test, correlation with short- and long-term climatic signals. The effect of climatic variations on streamflow originating from glacierised basins. Can we relate the observed trends to changes in glacier volume? Variations in the characteristics of the seasonal snow cover and their impact on glacier mass balance and runoff.

• WATERSHED MODELLING: MODELLING THE SNOW AND ICE COMPONENTS OF THE HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
  Distributed rainfall-runoff models for simulation of runoff from glacierised and mountainous basins: working with the physically-based, spatially distributed hydrological model TOPKAPI. Integration of snow and glacier components in distributed hydrological models. Key issues of uncertainty: extrapolation techniques, snow redistribution, initial conditions, temperature gradients. The transferability of model parameters. Simulating the response of glacier melt and discharge to climate change. The Aconcagua River Basin case study, central Chile.
  

• INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES AND TRANSBOUNDARY WATER CONFLICTS
  Environmental policies and climate change. Transboundary water issues, the role of international treaties in the solution of water conflicts, environmental policies and water management. The Kyoto protocol and the position of the EU and USA in the climate change negotiations. The Mekong River Treaty.

WORK EXPERIENCE

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES