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The Slovenian climate has undergone significant fluctuations, and an understanding of the past climate is necessary to improve models and recognise long-term patterns. The cryosphere environment, such as ice core samples, provides valuable palaeoclimate data. Palynology and dendroclimatology are also effective ways to study long-term changes in vegetation and reconstruct past climates using pollen and tree proxies. Sediment cores from various locations in Slovenia have been studied to understand past environmental changes. Borehole temperature profiles as well as historical records were also used to reconstruct past climate conditions. Studies have shown specific periods when climatic changes likely played a major role, but a complete timeline of the Slovenian climate throughout the Holocene has not yet been fully developed.

The main challenge of cultural landscapes is how to manage them, and the concept of commons through collective actions can help in this regard. Based on a questionnaire, 21 collective actions related to cultural landscapes in Slovenia were examined using descriptive statistics. Results show that 1) traditional and transforming commons deal with forests and pastures, whereas new ones are more diverse regarding land use but in significantly smaller areas; 2) new commons indicate possible future mechanism, but they do not (yet) have an impact on cultural landscapes; 3) the main benefits of commons refer to social aspects followed by non-material and regulative benefits; material benefits are ranked last; and 4) new collective actions, especially in urban areas, have difficulties obtaining lands which threatens their existence.

The paper aims to provide an overview of the most important parameters (the occurrence, frequency and magnitude) in Vojvodina Region (North Serbia). Monthly and annual mean precipitation values in the period 1946–2014, for the 12 selected meteorological stations were used. Relevant parameters (precipitation amounts, Angot precipitation index) were used as indicators of rainfall erosivity. Rainfall erosivity index was calculated and classified throughout precipitation susceptibility classes liable of triggering soil erosion. Precipitation trends were obtained and analysed by three different statistical approaches. Results indicate that various susceptibility classes are identified within the observed period, with a higher presence of very severe rainfall erosion in June and July. This study could have implications for mitigation strategies oriented towards reduction of soil erosion by water.

Various ice bodies are an important source of paleoenvironmental data, and their study improves the understanding of present and future environmental conditions. Their changes are an important indicator of climate change. This special issue of Acta geographica Slovenica draws attention to the changing and disappearing cryosphere across the globe, with an emphasis on the southeastern Alps, and the necessity to conduct research in this field before the ice disappears forever. This paper briefly summarizes the current body of knowledge on glaciers, permafrost, cave ice, lake and river ice, and snow in the southeastern Alps, and it presents the contribution of Acta geographica Slovenica to this research and the main highlights of all five papers included in this special issue.

The Skuta Glacier in the Kamnik–Savinja Alps (in northern Slovenia) is one of the two remaining glaciers in Slovenia. It is located in a cirque oriented toward the northwest, which shields it from sunlight for most of the year. The glacier lies at an average elevation of 2070m. In recent years, its average area has measured around 1.5 hectares. Monitoring of the glacier has been performed since 1946. In 1962, regular photographing of the glacier with various cameras started from various non-fixed standpoints. Using the single image interactive orientation acquisition method, in which a single photograph is compared with the projection of a modern digital terrain model, seventeen photographs covering the period from 1970 to 2015 were used to acquire the 3D-perimeters of the glacier. The data shows that the elevation of glacier’s upper edge decreased by approximately 40m in the last half-century. Changes in the glacier’s area and average upper edge elevation were compared with average annual temperature and maximum seasonal snow cover depth.

The Triglav Glacier in the Julian Alps and the Skuta Glacier in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps are among the south-easternmost glaciers in the Alps. Historical data show that ice masses are undergoing mass loss as the overall climate warms. Glacier ice and cave ice contain a wealth of paleoclimatic information, and rapid sampling is needed if any such information is to be saved before the ice is completely melted. We present the first comprehensive geochemical and water isotope data from glacier ice, meltwater, spring water, and cave ice in the Mount Triglav area and glacier ice from the Skuta Glacier. The samples primarily reflect the initial precipitation signal that has been greatly modified by the input of local CaCO3-rich dust with lesser amounts of marine aerosol and vegetation debris.

Various geodetic and lidar measurements performed on the Triglav Glacier (Julian Alps, Slovenia) make it possible to study not only the extent of the glacier but also changes in its thickness and volume. These measurements also make it possible to calculate the geodetic mass balance of the glacier. Thickness and volume changes were calculated using glacier area measurements from 1952, 1975, and 1992, and annually between 1999 and 2016. The mean thickness decreased from 39.2m in 1952 to 2.45m in 2012. The maximum thickness decreased from 48.3 m in 1952 to 5.2 m in 2007. The mean specific mass balance was calculated for the area of 1 hectare that the glacier covered in 2016. From 1952 to 2016, the annual specific mass balance was −0.45m w.e.a−1.

Using a uniform methodology, we explored cartographic elements on almost sixty medium-scale maps showing Slovenian territory from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. One of the elements examined was also borders, which are very fragmented due to the great landscape diversity of Slovenia. We were interested in how borders in different periods follow the natural boundaries of the landscape and how they are cartographically represented. Lines and shapes were mostly used to display the borders. Shaded areas are more common. They are usually colored or patterned. Lines are more effective. Typically, there are different types, varying in shape, thickness, and color. Only a dozen of the maps examined lack borders. Two-thirds of the maps highlight the borders with a color.

Many countries around the world are facing increasing impacts of natural disasters. This is primarily attributed to climate change, accompanied by an increase in the intensity of meteorological and hydro-geomorphological natural hazards. However, is climate change really responsible for this increased damage and low resilience, or should the cause be sought elsewhere? Based on the case of Slovenia, it is shown that social irresponsibility (e.g., inadequate spatial planning, lack of supervision, insufficient insurance policies, and a mix of politics and capital influences) could be a factor more responsible than climate change for the “catastrophic” consequences of natural disasters.

This paper presents an analysis of data on damage caused by natural disasters in Slovenia. The data were systematically collected by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia from 1991 to 2008 for fourteen categories of disasters: earthquakes, floods, fires, drought, windstorms, hail, frost, glaze, landslides and avalanches, epidemics, epizootics, damage caused by various pests and diseases, ecological disasters, and other natural disasters. Data by statistical regions (NUTS 3) are available for 1992 to 2008, and data by municipalities (LAU 2) and administrative units (LAU 1) are available for 1992 to 2005. Analysis of the data shows that from 1991 to 2008 direct damage caused by natural disasters amounted to an average of 0.48% of annual GDP, or an average of €45 per capita a year.

The annual trends of surface mean monthly air temperature and monthly extreme temperatures were analyzed from ten meteorological stations in Kosovo. The data refer to observation periods between 1949 and 1999 for four stations, and observation periods between 1965 and 1999 for the remaining six stations. Trends were analyzed for nine time series. Positive trends were found in six series, and negative trends were found in three series. After an assessment of these trends using the Mann–Kendall test, positive trends were confirmed in four series, a negative trend was confirmed in one series, and in one series there was no trend, whereas trends were characterized as slightly positive in two time series and slightly negative in one series.

A normalized difference vegetation index provides local forest managers with much essential annual information about the forest inventory. This article evaluates the possible use of NDVI and CORINE Land Cover databases for better forest management in the municipalities of Kursumlija and Topola in Serbia. The forest areas obtained using CLC were up to 11.5% larger than the official forest area estimates, whereas NDVI gave more precise results. This is of a crucial importance for preventing illegal logging, which is very prevalent in southern Serbian municipalities, which have substantial forested territory. NDVI is very promising for Serbia and also for countries that rarely carry out national forest inventories. This method can also easily be applied to other Balkan countries with a similar situation regarding local forest management.

The Triglav glacier is situated in the Julian Alps in the northwest of Slovenia. Presented are the results of investigations and measurements of the Triglav glacier done between the years 1999 and 2012. It was for the first time during this period that its depth was measured by means of georadar. Its area was measured on a yearly basis by means of various land surveying methods which are stated in detail. We explained the dynamics of the glacier’s shrinking on the grounds of weather conditions of each respective year. Due to the glacier’s concave form, snow in the past few years remained all until the late summer, particularly in the central and lower sections of the glacier. If such weather conditions continue, and the amount of winter precipitation further increases, the remainder of the Triglav glacier, though small in size, will continue to exist for a few years.

Anthropogenic influence on weather has been increasingly published and discussed in the last decades. Climate changes caused by inadvertent anthropogenic influence are well underway. Hail suppression, which has been proven to have no influence on weather, will be considered in the article. Even though hail suppression as scientifically ungrounded activity seemed to promise certain success several decades ago, it has spread over the whole territory of the Republic of Serbia after abundant experience, when many developed countries have given up on this activity. Reasons will be presented for the senselessness of hail suppression based on the latest research. By processing all hail data from the territory of Serbia in the period from 1967 to 2010, it was found out that the hail trend is rising which is in contrary to expectations and previous claims that hail suppression decreases hail frequency.

The paper discusses the definitions of natural disasters and recommends the implementation of definitions and classifications of natural disasters in accordance with those decreed at the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and Munich Re insurance Company (Munich RE) for administrative use in the Republic of Serbia. For the Republic of Serbia, the issue of natural disasters is presented both through government documents (e.g. the Law on Emergencies and the National Strategy of the Protection and Rescue in Emergencies) and the survey of the frequency and typology of disasters. Significant discrepancies exist between older and more contemporary classifications of disasters in Serbia. They are especially emphasized in comparison to the CRED and Munich RE classifications and databases. This causes problems in the monitoring, recording and assessment of the effects of natural disasters. It is proposed that definitions be adapted and implemented into legislative and other documents.

In his long career as a researcher, Ivan Gams was focused mainly on karstology, although he contributed significantly to physical geography and geography of natural hazards as well. These topics are central to more than 80% of Gams's scientific and professional articles. Since Gams wrote more than 150 scientific articles in just a few decades, he is considered one of the most important Slovenian physical geographers, and rightly so. He was also the pioneer of studying natural hazards by means of modern geographical methods.

A recent forest fire in the Republic of Serbia is discussed concerning classification, legislative framework and fire management, giving a detailed analysis of the forest fire occurrence. Analysing past and predicting future fires are crucial for policy development and forest management practices to prevent and mitigate fires. Fire hazard is discussed through several fire protection and prevention legislative documents. The nonparametric Mann-Kendall test was used to analyse resent forest fire data in an attempt to find causality in occurrences and frequency. The meteorological data and fire statistics provided by the Serbian Hydro-meteorological Service and the Ministry of Interior/Sector for Emergency Management of the Republic of Serbia were used to calculate the Forest Fire Weather Indices, along with deficit or surplus of precipitation for the case study of Tara Mountain. The paper highlights the need for better hierarchical classification of fire hazards and its harmonisation along with standardisations presented by leading international research institutions. A significant correlation between meteorological parameters and forest fire occurrence was found. This opens a possibility for further investigation and analysis of geophysical and anthropogenic driven factors that can influence disaster occurrence.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Bojan Erhartič had a strong impact on Slovenian geography because he placed it on the map of countries where geographers deal with geomorphological heritage. He began his research path into the world of natural heritage with the study of geography. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he turned his attention to studying geodiversity, and this led him to issues concerning the evaluation of geomorphological heritage, especially in mountainous areas. Erhartič was among the first in Slovenian geography to deal with the aesthetic evaluation of geomorphological heritage. His interest in the “beauty of nature” stemmed from many years of planned work in (geographical) photography. The Anton Melik Geographical Institute of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts holds approximately 218,000 of his “geographical” photos, which he took during his many travels in more than forty countries on five continents.

This paper describes the damage caused by natural disasters in Slovenia and around the world between 1995 and 2010. The fundamental purpose of the article is to present damage caused by different natural hazards in Slovenia and abroad together with the analysis of the amount of damage caused by natural disasters together and a discussion on the comparability of data. Described is the damage caused by earthquakes, floods, fires, droughts, strong winds, hail, frost and ice, and landslides and avalanches. From the analyzed material on the amount of damage we can evaluate the financial importance of prevention, which is be a key activity in the field of protection against natural disasters.

This study deals with geomorphological natural features (geomorphosites) relative to the natural processes that create, shape, or destroy such features. As a rule, geomorphologic processes are geographical constants in the landscape although some, due to their high magnitude or low frequency of occurrence, can be seen as an exception (e.g., natural disasters). The importance of geomorphosites is relative to their size, rarity (spatial distribution), and duration (existence in time), which depend on both the frequency and magnitude of geomorphological processes and on the standards of the observer. Human influence and perception of geomorphosites is also important in this regard.

This article is a continuation of the article on soil erosion in submediterranean Slovene Istria from the first issue of the 2009 (49-1) journal. In this article we present geomorphic processes in the badlands of the same area (Dragonja River basin, SW Slovenia): sediment production from steep bare (Eocene) flysch slopes (rockwall retreat), movements of flysch debris along erosion gullies, and geomorphic processes on talus slopes. Sediment production of flysch rocks was determined by measurements on erosion plots and totals around 80 kg/m2 per year on average, which means that steep bare flysch rockwalls retreat at a speed of 35 to 50 mm per year. The badlands not only contain flysch walls but also slopes already eroded by erosion rills and gullies. A dam in one of the erosion gullies with the catchment area of 0.1 ha captured 20 tons of debris in fourteen months. Monitoring on talus slopes of the badlands revealed their dual character because erosion here alternates with accumulation.

Na primeru Goriških brd predstavljamo deterministično in probabilistično metodo za izdelavo zemljevidov plazovitosti oziroma procesnih geomorfoloških zemljevidov za zemeljske plazove. Deterministični zemljevid plazovitosti smo izdelali z metodo ponderiranja, za probabilistični zemljevid pa smo uporabili Dempster-Shaferjev algoritem. Deterministične metode so enostavnejše in hitrejše za izdelavo, vendar tudi manj natančne od probabilističnih. V članku je predstavljena primerjava obeh metod.

Predstavljene so meritve erozijsko-denudacijskih procesov v porečju Dragonje. Meritve so obsegale površinsko spiranje na treh različnih rabah tal, umikanje strmih golih flišnih pobočij, premikanje gradiva po erozijskem jarku in kemično denudacijo v porečju. Meritve so potekale od februarja 2005 do maja 2006. Namen članka je opozoriti na hitrost nekaterih geomorfnih procesov, zaradi katere bi bilo treba bolj poudariti njihov pomen pri oblikotvornosti površja.

The article describes soil erosion in Slovenia. There is little concrete data on soil erosion due to the lack of awareness of this process and the fragmentation of farmland. Long-term measurements of soil erosion have only been done at one location; elsewhere, there have only been short observations and calculations and modeling on the basis of empirical equations. To increase our knowledge of this phenomenon, we took measurements of soil erosion on a field in the Besnica Valley northwest of Kranj. With the decrease of agricultural land use in Slovenia due to natural, social, and economic factors, the amount of material lost to erosion has decreased in the last few decades. For protection from erosion, various preventive methods such as terracing, mulching, and contour plowing are employed. The awareness that protection against erosion is a demanding and long-term task is gradually increasing, but nothing can replace the soil that has been lost due to erosion.

The article presents two deterministic methods for the elaboration of landslide and rock-fall source area maps and, considering human activity in the landscape, for the elaboration of landslide and rockfall risk maps. Risk maps are one of the fundamental bases for protection against natural disasters since they illustrate the risks to areas of human activity due to various natural processes. Using the weighting method and for the first time the matrix method, we established the extent of land-slide and rockfall source areas in the Upper Savinja Valley and the risk due to these processes relative to settlement, roads, land use, and rivers and streams. The methodology for elaborating maps using both approaches is described in detail as well as the differ-ences between them. The basic purpose of risk maps is to direct human encroachment in the landscape to safe areas.

The complete drying out of the Aral and Caspian seas, as isolated continental water bodies, and their potential impact on the climate and environment is examined with numerical simulations. Simulations use the atmospheric general circulation model (ECHAM5) as well as the hydrological discharge (HD) model of the Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie. The dry out is represented by replacing the water surfaces in both of the seas with land surfaces. New land surface elevation is lower, but not lover than 50 m from the present mean sea level. Other parameters in the model remain unchanged. The initial meteorological data is real; starting with January 1, 1989 and lasting until December 31, 1991. The final results were analyzed only for the second, as the first year of simulation was used for the model spinning up. The drying out of both seas leads to an increase in land surface and average monthly air temperature during the summer, and a decrease of land surface and average monthly air temperature during the winter, above the Caspian Sea. The greatest difference in temperature between dry and not dry cases have the same values, about 7–8 °C in both seasons, while daily extremes of temperature are much more pronounced. In the wider local/regional area, close to both seas, drying out leads to a difference in average annual temperatures by about 1 °C. On a global scale, the average annual temperature remains unchanged and the configuration of the isotherms remain unchanged, except for over some of the continents. In winter, Central Asia becomes cooler, while over Australia, southern Africa, and South America, it becomes slightly less warm. Furthermore, a new heat island occurs in western Sahara during summer.

Along with flash floods, landslides are one of the most widespread and damaging natural hazards in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This paper determines areas susceptible to landslides in the Municipality of Banja Luka (Republika Srpska, northwest Bosnia and Herzegovina). Based on a terrain survey in a 55.4 km2 area, 216 landslides were identified with a total area of 2.9 km2 or 5.2% of the municipality. According to landslide susceptibility modeling, low susceptibility is present from one-quarter to one-half of the territory and very high susceptibility is present from several percentages up to one-third of the territory, depending on the model used. The results may support government mitigation programs and help in developing a landslide hazard and risk assessment model for the area.

This study identifies factors that affect the speed of rockwall retreat of flysch cliffs between Kane Point and Strunjan on the Slovenian coast. Individual factors were combined in a geographical information system with mapped recent erosion features. The results indicate the influence of individual factors on the formation of erosion rills, gullies, surfwave breaks, slumps, and rockfalls; that is, flysch coast retreat processes. Special attention is dedicated to the occurrence of major slope processes, specifically slumps and rockfalls, which are an important contributing factor in cliff retreat. The article also presents the threat to individual sections of coast due to rockfalls and slumps.

Acta geographica Slovenica is a research journal for geography and related disciplines published by the Anton Melik Geographical Institute of Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It has been published since 1952 and is the second-oldest Slovenian geographical journal. Volume 50 was published in 2010, and this article is dedicated to this special anniversary. The journal was only published occasionally until 1976, when the volume 14 appeared, but afterwards it began to be published annually, with two volumes a year since 2003 (volume 43). With volume 43, the journal was included in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). Since 2010, it has also had an impact factor. For 2009, this factor was 0.714, which ranks the journal in third place among all indexed Slovenian journals. In all the volumes, a total of 273 research articles have been published on more than 12,000 pages; half of these articles were written by the institute members.

In 2005 and 2006 intensive measurements were made of various erosion-denudation processes in the Dragonja River basin. The measurements included geomorphic processes in the badlands: the rockwall retreat of steep bare flysch slopes, movements of flysch debris along erosion gullies, and geomorphic processes on talus slopes. At the same time, measurements of soil erosion were made in three different land use areas: bare soil in an olive grove, an overgrown meadow, and a forest. The results are presented in two parts. Part One presents the measurements of soil erosion, and Part Two in the next issue of the journal (No. 49-2) will present geomorphic processes in the badlands. The measurements of soil erosion made on one-meter-square closed erosion plots south of the village of Marezige revealed that the greater part of the annual erosion was caused by only a few major erosion events. Between May 2005 and April 2006, interrill erosion amounted to 9,013 g/m2 (90 t/ha) on bare soil in an olive grove with an inclination of 5.5º and an average weekly proportion of specific runoff of 23%, 168 g/m2 (1.68 t/ha) on an overgrown meadow with an inclination of 9.4º and an average weekly proportion of specific runoff of 8%, and 391 g/m2 (3.91 t/ha) in a forest with an inclination of 7.8º and 415 g/m2 (4.15 t/ha) in a forest with an inclination of 21.4º with an average weekly proportion of specific runoff of 6% regardless of the inclination. The amount of precipitation during the reference year was slightly below the long-term average.

In this journal, the authors (Zorn, Komac 2004) previously described the use of two deterministic methods for establishing the possibility of landsliding. This time, they take a step forward and using the example of the flysch Goriška Brda hills present the probability modelling of landslide hazard. In probability methods, the intensity and distribution of the processes are established by comparing indirectly determined landscape elements and the actual situation, while in deterministic methods, subjective decisions have an impact on the result. We have elaborated a probability map for landslides with a fixed return period using the Dempster-Shafer method on the basis of the data on 800 landslides that occurred with intensive precipitation in the fall of 1998.