Université de Fribourg

Evidences of winter ascending air circulation throughout talus slopes and rock glaciers situated in the lower belt of alpine discontinuous permafrost (Swiss Alps)

Delaloye, Reynald ; Lambiel, Christophe

In: Norwegian Journal of Geography

The winter ascending circulation of air throughout an accumulation of coarse slope sediments (the so-called chimney effect) facilitates the cooling of the ground and even the occurrence of permafrost in the lower part of a deposit. Simultaneously, any freezing is unlikely to occur in the upper part. The chimney effect has been reported to date mainly for cold and sometimes perennially frozen...