Tschaneck – the last tree replanted (2030 m)
The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snowpack, or associated lack of available moisture). The tree line is sometimes distinguished from a lower timberline or forest line, which is the line below which trees form a forest with a closed canopy.
Tree line
At the tree line, tree growth is often sparse, stunted, and deformed by wind and cold. This is sometimes known as krummholz (German for "crooked wood").
The tree line often appears well-defined, but it can be a more gradual transition. Trees grow shorter and often at lower densities as they approach the tree line, above which they cease to exist.
The alpine tree line is the highest elevation that sustains trees; higher up it is too cold, or the snow cover lasts for too much of the year, to sustain trees. The climate above the tree line of mountains is called an alpine climate, and the terrain can be described as alpine tundra. Treelines on north-facing slopes in the northern hemisphere are lower than on south-facing slopes, because the increased shade on north-facing slopes means the snowpack takes longer to melt. This shortens the growing season for trees. In the southern hemisphere, the south-facing slopes have the shorter growing season.
Alpine tree line summer
Alpine tree line winter
The decrease in air temperature with increasing elevation creates the alpine climate. The rate of decrease can vary in different mountain chains, from 3.5 °F (1.9 °C) per 1,000 feet (300 m) of elevation gain in the dry mountains to 1.4 °F (0.78 °C) per 1,000 feet (300 m) in the moister mountains. Skin effects and topography can create microclimates that alter the general cooling trend.
Compared with arctic timberlines, alpine timberlines may receive fewer than half of the number of degree days (above 10 °C (50 °F)) based on air temperature, but because solar radiation intensities are greater at alpine than at arctic timberlines the number of degree days calculated from leaf temperatures may be very similar. Summer warmth generally sets the limit to which tree growth can occur, for while timberline conifers are very frost-hardy during most of the year, they become sensitive to just 1 or 2 degrees of frost in mid-summer.
At the alpine timberline, tree growth is inhibited when excessive snow lingers and shortens the growing season to the point where new growth would not have time to harden before the onset of fall frost. Moderate snowpack, however, may promote tree growth by insulating the trees from extreme cold during the winter, curtailing water loss, and prolonging a supply of moisture through the early part of the growing season.
The height of the tree line changes according to the place at the globe.
Tree line across the globe
For instance, the tree line in the Himalaya is about 1.500 meters higher than in the Alps.
Treeline in the Alps versus Himalaya
The cache
Here on Tschaneck is not the height or the cold that limits the growing of trees but the pistebullies. The former last tree (hundred meters more back towards the beginning of the skislope) was eventually run over by one of these machines). Looking to this tree it also has at least one encounter with a pistebully. Let’s see of this tree - and the new cache - lives to see the summer …
You are looking for a green waterproof container, somewhere close to the tree.
Happy Caching!
Marrakesj