Université de Fribourg

Distinguishing ice-rich and ice-poor permafrost to map ground temperatures and ground ice occurrence in the Swiss Alps

Kenner, Robert ; Noetzli, Jeannette ; Hoelzle, Martin ; Raetzo, Hugo ; Phillips, Marcia

In: The Cryosphere, 2019, vol. 13, no. 7, p. 1925–1941

Mountain permafrost is invisible, and mapping it is still a challenge. Available permafrost distribution maps often overestimate the permafrost extent and include large permafrost-free areas in their permafrost zonation. In addition, the representation of the lower belt of permafrost consisting of ice-rich features such as rock glaciers or ice-rich talus slopes can be challenging. These...

Université de Fribourg

400 years of debris flow activity and triggering weather conditions: Ritigraben VS, Switzerland

Stoffel, Markus ; Lièvre, Igor ; Conus, Delphine ; Grichting, Michael A. ; Raetzo, Hugo ; Gärtner, Holger W. ; Monbaron, Michel

In: Arctic Antarctic and Alpine Research, 2005, vol. 37(3), p. 387-395

Three major rainfall events have caused considerable damage in the Valais region (Swiss Alps) since 1987. While important debris flows originating from periglacial environments were recorded during the August 1987 and September 1993 rainfall events, no debris flows occurred in October 2000. This paper aims at putting these large area events and the apparent increase in debris flow frequency into...

Université de Fribourg

Landslide mapping in Switzerland with ENVISAT ASAR

Wegmuller, Urs ; Strozzi, Tazio ; Delaloye, Reynald ; Raetzo, Hugo

In: Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2012, p. -

In the frame of the IGARSS 2012 special session on ENVISAT the landslide mapping activities in Switzerland using ENVISAT ASAR data are presented. Between 2005 and 2010 the building up of a well suited archive over the Swiss Alps was realized through programming of all IS2 mode data during the snow free period. In recent years DINSAR and PSI based landslide inventory and monitoring products...