Michael Lehning
EPFL Valais Wallis
EPFL ENAC IIE CRYOS
Route des Ronquos 86
CH-1951 Sion
Web site: Web site: https://cryos.epfl.ch
CLIMACT
UNIL - Université de Lausanne
Vortex
CH-1015 Lausanne
+41 21 693 80 81
EPFL
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VPA
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VPA-AVP-CP
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CLIMACT
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CLIMACT-GE
EPFL CEN
BAC 104 (Château de Bassenges)
Station 5
CH-1015 Lausanne
Web site: Web site: https://energycenter.epfl.ch/
Fields of expertise
Interaction Cryosphere - Atmosphere in particular Snow Processes Natural Hazards Warning and Forecasting Turbulence and Boundary Layer Flows over Alpine Terrain Mountain Hydrology and Permafrost Dynamics Renewable Energy (Wind and Solar) in the Alps and as Contribution to the Swiss Energy Change Agenda
Grants
2010: EU Interreg and Cantonal Funding for application oriented work in Alpine flood forecasting and climate change, P. I. 2009: Swiss National Science Foundation: Wind tunnel investigations of shear stress partitioning over plants, P. I. 2009: Swiss National Science Foundation: Field investigations of surface heterogeneity and land-surface exchange in mountains, P. I. 2008: ETH CCES grant Swiss Experiment Main Project Project on new technology and interdisciplinary environmental observation systems, P. I. 2008: HYDROSYS: EU Project on new technology and hydrological consequences of cryosphere degradation in the ALPS, P.I. 2007: SNF REQUIP Terrestrial Laser Scanning System, P.I. 2007: ETH CCES grant EXTREMES on spatial extreme value statistics, Co-P. I. 2006: ETH CCES grant Swiss Experiment Pre-Project, P. I. 2006: Swiss National Science Foundation: Wind tunnel investigation of snow ventilation, P. I. 2005: KTI: Development of high resolution forecasting models of road surface conditions for winter road maintenance, P. I. 2004: AWARE: EU Project on water resources in Alpine catchments with a focus on snow cover processes, P. I. 2003: Swiss National Science Foundation: Small scale investigation of flow, snow drift and surface energy balance, P. I. 2002: Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology: Distributed Computing (GRID) for Natural Hazard Prediction, Co - P. I. 2000: Swiss National Science Foundation: REQUIP: A cold, two phase wind tunnel with natural snow particles, P. I. 1997: Swiss National Science Foundation: Boundary layer wind field and the associated snow transport over high alpine topography, P. I. 1992: Scholarship for foreign studies at UC Davis.Awards
Bavarian scholarship for highly gifted students (1988 - 1992) Award for the best student paper presentation at a conference of the American Meteorological Society in Charlotte (1995), USA. Award for extraordinary performance in transfer of scientific knowledge to users, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (2001). Offer (Ruf) of a full professorship (chair: W3) in environmental physics at the University of Tübingen (2009).Publications
Infoscience publications
Infoscience
Determining return levels of extreme daily precipitation, reservoir inflow, and dry spells
Frontiers In Water. 2023-07-24. DOI : 10.3389/frwa.2023.1141786.A Case Study on Drivers of the Isotopic Composition of Water Vapor at the Coast of East Antarctica
Journal Of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface. 2023-07-01. DOI : 10.1029/2023JF007062.CRYOWRF-Model Evaluation and the Effect of Blowing Snow on the Antarctic Surface Mass Balance
Journal Of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres. 2023-06-27. DOI : 10.1029/2022JD037744.A Database of Snow on Sea Ice in the Central Arctic Collected during the MOSAiC expedition
Scientific Data. 2023-06-22. DOI : 10.1038/s41597-023-02273-1.Convection of snow: when and why does it happen?
Frontiers In Earth Science. 2023-06-15. DOI : 10.3389/feart.2023.1167760.Evidence of Strong Flux Underestimation by Bulk Parametrizations During Drifting and Blowing Snow (vol 182, pg 119, 2022)
Boundary-Layer Meteorology. 2023-05-20. DOI : 10.1007/s10546-023-00809-x.Combining Weather Station Data and Short-Term LiDAR Deployment to Estimate Wind Energy Potential with Machine Learning: A Case Study from the Swiss Alps
Boundary Layer Meteorology. 2023-05-11. DOI : 10.1007/s10546-023-00808-y.Maximum Wind Energy Production (MaxWEP): Maximizing Winter Production of Energy by Exploiting Terrain Potential
2023-03-31Decentralized green energy transition promotes peace
Frontiers In Environmental Science. 2023-03-03. DOI : 10.3389/fenvs.2023.1118987.Wind conditions for snow cornice formation in a wind tunnel
Cryosphere. 2023-02-08. DOI : 10.5194/tc-17-639-2023.Reproducibility Dataset for CRYOWRF v1.0
2023-02-01.Introducing CRYOWRF v1.0: multiscale atmospheric flow simulations with advanced snow cover modelling
Geoscientific Model Development. 2023-01-30. DOI : 10.5194/gmd-16-719-2023.Constraining Latent and Sensible Heat Fluxes during Drifting and Blowing Snow Events in Antarctica using in–situ Measurements and Large–Eddy Simulations
24th Symposium on Boundary Layers and Turbulence, Denver, USA and online, January 8-12, 2023.A Case Study on Drivers of the Isotopic Composition of Water Vapour at the Coast of East Antarctica
ESS Open Archive. 2023-01-11. DOI : 10.22541/essoar.167340708.83192511/v1.Wind, Hail, and Climate Extremes: Modelling and Attribution Studies for Environmental Data
Lausanne, EPFL, 2023. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-11082.Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Snow on Central Arctic Sea Ice and its Implications
Lausanne, EPFL, 2023. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-10233.A Novel Method to Quantify Near-Surface Boundary-Layer Dynamics at Ultra-High Spatio-Temporal Resolution
Boundary-Layer Meteorology. 2023. DOI : 10.1007/s10546-022-00752-3.Observations and simulations of new snow density in the drifting snow-dominated environment of Antarctica
Journal Of Glaciology. 2022-12-14. DOI : 10.1017/jog.2022.102.Fingerprints of Frontal Passages and Post-Depositional Effects in the Stable Water Isotope Signal of Seasonal Alpine Snow
Journal Of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres. 2022-11-27. DOI : 10.1029/2022JD037469.Modelling snow sublimation to improve estimates of sea level rise
Atmospheric Science Day, Lausanne, Switzerland, Novembre 10, 2022.Simulation of snow slide-off from solar panels and modelling of subsequent snow accumulation using the Material Point Method
2022-10-01Analyzing the effects of snow-atmosphere interactions on snow surface dynamics based on automated 3D laser scanning data
2022-10-01Future trends in wind resources and their consistency in the Indian sub-continent
Sustainable Energy Technologies And Assessments. 2022-10-01. DOI : 10.1016/j.seta.2022.102460.Parameterizing snow saltation: the exponential decay of the mass flux profile and its relation to the saltation dynamics
International Symposium on Snow (IGS), Davos, Switzerland, Septembre 25-30, 2022.How much snow sublimates in Extreme Environments: Quantifying blowing snow sublimation
International Glaciological Society, Davos, 26.09.2022.Considering snow depositions and transport mechanisms in meteorological analysis of predicting snow loads on buildings
Cold Regions Science And Technology. 2022-09-01. DOI : 10.1016/j.coldregions.2022.103614.Sources of Primary Electricity Supply
2022-09-01Modeling the small-scale deposition of snow onto structured Arctic sea ice during a MOSAiC storm using snowBedFoam 1.0.
Geoscientific Model Development. 2022-08-29. DOI : 10.5194/gmd-15-6429-2022.Wind-Topo: Measurement-Based Deep Learning Generation of High-Resolution Wind Fields in Complex Terrain
AMS mountain meteorology, Park City, 2022-06-20.The Complexity of Alpine Weather: An Asset for the Energy Transition
AMS mountain meteorology, Park City, 2022-06-20.Snowfall and snow accumulation during the MOSAiC winter and spring seasons
Cryosphere. 2022-06-17. DOI : 10.5194/tc-16-2373-2022.Snow sublimation in Antarctica
IIE Green Days, Anzère, Switzerland, 2022-06-17.Idealized Study of a Static Electrical Field on Charged Saltating Snow Particles
Frontiers In Earth Science. 2022-06-15. DOI : 10.3389/feart.2022.880466.Climate Change Impact Assessment for Future Wind and Solar Energy Installations in India
Frontiers In Energy Research. 2022-05-11. DOI : 10.3389/fenrg.2022.859321.Water vapour fluxes above snow in conditions of drifting and blowing snow
CATCH Open Science Workshop, 2022-05-10.High-speed imaging of snow saltation: wind tunnel experiments using natural snow
EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, May 23-27, 2022.Towards better estimates of wind power potentials in the Alps
Applied Machine Learning Days, Lausanne, 2022-03-30.Wind-Topo: Downscaling near-surface wind fields to high-resolution topography in highly complex terrain with deep learning
Quarterly Journal Of The Royal Meteorological Society. 2022-03-29. DOI : 10.1002/qj.4265.Wind-Topo_Model
2022-03-16.TopoCLIM: rapid topography-based downscaling of regional climate model output in complex terrain v1.1
Geoscientific Model Development. 2022-03-02. DOI : 10.5194/gmd-15-1753-2022.Future water temperature of rivers in Switzerland under climate change investigated with physics-based models
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 2022-02-24. DOI : 10.5194/hess-26-1063-2022.SWEET-EDGE: Enabling Decentralized renewable Generation in the Alps
2022-01-28. Energy Research Talks , Disentis/Mustér, January 26-28, 2022. p. 36-38.Convection of water vapour in snowpacks
Journal Of Fluid Mechanics. 2022-01-19. DOI : 10.1017/ijm.2021.1146.Modeling Snow Saltation: The Effect of Grain Size and Interparticle Cohesion
Journal Of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres. 2022-01-16. DOI : 10.1029/2021JD035260.Preprocessing Antarctic Weather Station (AWS) data in python
2022.Risk Profiles of Impactful and Extreme Hydrological Events for Alpine Reservoirs
European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23-27 May 2022.Reproducibility dataset for CRYOWRF validation
2022.Dataset for: Future water temperature of rivers in Switzerland under climate change investigated with physics-based models
2022.Exploring alternative possibilities for sublimation measurements over snow and ice surfaces
International Symposium on Snow, Davos, Switzerland, September 2022.Surface snow isotopic composition: Post-depositional processes in an alpine snowpack
The Cryosphere in a changing climate – A scientific symposium in the memory of Koni Steffen, Davos, Switzerland, June 23-24, 2022.Addressing impact of climate change on wind and solar energy infrastructures: the case of India
Lausanne, EPFL, 2022. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9465.Parametrizing drifting snow sublimation in the saltation layer
EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022.Water vapor transport in snowpacks
Lausanne, EPFL, 2022. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9659.Evidence of Strong Flux Underestimation by Bulk Parametrizations During Drifting and Blowing Snow
Boundary-Layer Meteorology. 2022. DOI : 10.1007/s10546-021-00653-x.The influence of drifting and blowing snow on surface (turbulent) mass- and energy exchange assessed with different methods
AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans, LA & Online, 13-17 December 2021.Evolution and spatial variability of small-scale surface roughness of snow and sea ice during MOSAiC
AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans, LA & Online, 13-17 December 2021.A review in snow saltation dynamics and its implications for the surface mass balance
American Geophysical Union 2021 (AGU Fall Meeting 2021), New Orleans, LA & Online Everywhere, December 13-17, 2021.A comparison of hydrological models with different level of complexity in Alpine regions in the context of climate change
Hydrology And Earth System Sciences. 2021-12-06. DOI : 10.5194/hess-2021-562.Influence of Meteorological Conditions on Artificial Ice Reservoir (Icestupa) Evolution
Frontiers in Earth Science. 2021-11-13. DOI : 10.3389/feart.2021.771342.How important are snow transport and sublimation for the mass balance of Antarctica?
Geneva Cryosphere Hub, UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), Geneva, Switzerland, November 1-12, 2021.100% erneuerbar – und zwar mit Köpfchen
2021-10-01.Modelling the small-scale deposition of snow onto structured Arctic sea ice during a MOSAiC storm using snowBedFoam 1.0.
Geoscientific Model Development. 2021-08-27. DOI : 10.5194/gmd-2021-254.Evaluating a prediction system for snow management
Cryosphere. 2021-08-20. DOI : 10.5194/tc-15-3949-2021.How Forward-Scattering Snow and Terrain Change the Alpine Radiation Balance With Application to Solar Panels
Journal Of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres. 2021-08-08. DOI : 10.1029/2020JD034333.The inFuence of drifting and blowing snow on surface (turbulent) mass- and energy exchange assessed with different methods
AGU Fall Meeting 2021, New Orleans, USA, December 13-17, 2021.Forward scattering of snow as a factor in local surface energy balance and winter PV production
AGU Fall Meeting 2021, New Orleans, USA, December 13-17, 2021.Similarity conditions and cube model tests of snow drift and precipitation preferential deposition patterns
Journal Of Wind Engineering And Industrial Aerodynamics. 2021-08-01. DOI : 10.1016/j.jweia.2021.104694.High resolution static data for WRF over Switzerland
2021-07-02.Synergistic optimization of renewable energy installations through evolution strategy
Environmental Research Letters. 2021-05-20. DOI : 10.1088/1748-9326/abfc75.Blowing snow in Antarctica and its contribution to the surface mass balance
EGU General Assembly 2020, online.Snowfall and snow accumulation processes during the MOSAiC winter and spring season
The Cryosphere. 2021-04-26. DOI : 10.5194/tc-2021-126.Snowfall and snow accumulation processes during the MOSAiC winter and spring season
EGU General Assembly 2021, vEGU21: Gather Online, April 13-30, 2021.On the necessity of including vapor kinetics to model the specific surface area evolution in snow
EGU General Assembly 2021, vEGU21: Gather Online, April 19-30, 2021.A snowfall downscaling scheme for mountainous terrain
EGU General Assembly 2021, vEGU21: Gather Online, April 13-30, 2021.Precipitation over the Southern Ocean: synoptic analysis and model evaluation using ground-based remote sensing and in-situ measurements
EGU General Assembly 2021, vEGU21: Gather Online, April 13-30, 2021.Simulating airborne 'snow walls' of Antarctica using CRYOWRF v1.0
EGU General Assembly 2021, vEGU21: Gather Online, April 19-30, 2021.River Temperature Evolution in Switzerland over the 21st Century
EGU General Assembly 2021, Online conference, April 19-30, 2021.The effect of sublimation on snow isotopic composition
2021-02-05Climate change scenarios at hourly time‐step over Switzerland from an enhanced temporal downscaling approach
International Journal of Climatology. 2021-02-01. DOI : 10.1002/joc.7032.Dataset for: Climate change scenarios at hourly time-step over Switzerland from an enhanced temporal downscaling approach
2021.Meteorology and snow transport at S17 near Syowa, Antarctica, in austral summer 2018/2019
2021.Modeling snow saltation: the effect of grain size and interparticle cohesion
2021.Changement climatique et température des rivières
Aqua & Gas. 2021.The complex winds of the Alps: an unseen asset for the energy transition
Lausanne, EPFL, 2021. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-9253.Past and future impacts of climate change on swiss river temperature and discharge investigated with data analysis and numerical modelling
Lausanne, EPFL, 2021. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-8871.Multi-Resolution Convolutional Neural Network for High-Resolution Downscaling of Wind Fields from Operational Weather Prediction Models in Complex Terrain
AGU fall Meeting 2020, Online conference, December 1-17, 2020.PV on high alpine reservoir wall - Axpo's pioneer project in the Swiss Alps
HYDRO 2020, Online conference, Octobre 26-28, 2020.Estimating the free troposphere measurement quality from high-altitude stations using topographic analysis
2020-10-05Modelling the small-scale deposition of snow onto structured Arctic sea ice using OpenFOAM
2020-10-05The monitoring and modelling of snow preparation in alpine and cross country ski areas
2020-10-05100% renewable – 100% doable
2020-08-01.The Impact of Diffusive Water Vapor Transport on Snow Profiles in Deep and Shallow Snow Covers and on Sea Ice
Frontiers in earth Science. 2020-07-16. DOI : 10.3389/feart.2020.00249.The Influence of Mountain-Ridge Scale Snow Precipitation Processes on the Local Snow Distribution
27th IUGG General Assembly, Montréal, Canada, 8-18 july, 2019.Radar measurements of blowing snow off a mountain ridge
The Cryosphere. 2020-06-03. DOI : 10.5194/tc-14-1779-2020.Changes in Climatology, Snow Cover, and Ground Temperatures at High Alpine Locations
Frontiers In Earth Science. 2020-05-12. DOI : 10.3389/feart.2020.00100.Simulation of snow management in Alpine ski resorts using three different snow models
Cold Regions Science And Technology. 2020-04-01. DOI : 10.1016/j.coldregions.2020.102995.Wie sich wasser, sonne und wind zu einem 100% erneuerbaren elektrizitätssystem in der Schweiz ergänzen
Energiegespräche Disentis 2020, Disentis, Suisse, Janvier 22-24, 2020.Version 1 of a sea ice module for the physics-based, detailed, multi-layer SNOWPACK model
Geoscientific Model Development. 2020-01-10. DOI : 10.5194/gmd-13-99-2020.Stream temperature and discharge evolution in Switzerland over the last 50 years: annual and seasonal behaviour
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 2020-01-10. DOI : 10.5194/hess-24-115-2020.REMA topography and AntarcticaLC2000 for WRF
2020.Teaching & PhD
Teaching
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
PhD Students
Braun Anna, Brito Melo Daniela, Carletti Francesca, Cintas Albin Manuel, Frischholz Yael, Hames Océane, Haugeneder Michael, Kristianti Fanny, Milojevic Tatjana, Mödl Anja, Reynolds Dylan Stewart, Schilt Ueli, Sharaborova Elizaveta, Sigmund Armin, Tian Tian, Van Schaik Brandon Jacobus Adrianus,Past EPFL PhD Students
Brauchli Tristan Jonas , Comola Francesco , Crivelli Philip , Dujardin Jérôme François Sylvain , Faure Françoise , Gallice Aurélien , Gerber Franziska , Groot Zwaaftink Christine Dorothea , Grünewald Thomas , Jafari Mahdi , Krol Quirien Eibhilín , Kruyt Albertus Christiaan , Michel Adrien , Mott-Grünewald Rebecca Maria , Schlögl Sebastian , Sharma Varun , Sommer Christian Gabriel , Steinkogler Walter , Wagner David Nicholas , Walter Benjamin Andreas , Wever Nander , Würzer Sebastian , Zakari Yasmine ,Courses
Physics and chemistry of the atmosphere
The course provides an introduction to the physical and chemical processes that govern the atmospheric dynamics at small and large scales. The basis is laid for an in depth understanding of our atmospheric environment and the climate system.
Physics and hydrology of snow
This course covers principles of snow physics, snow hydrology, snow-atmosphere interaction and snow modeling. It transmits sound understanding of physical processes within the snow and at its interfaces with the atmosphere and the ground, including field, laboratory, and modeling techniques.