In: Boreas, 2020, p. bor.12480
Several palaeoclimatic archives have documented the pronounced climatic and environmental change associated with the Lateglacial–Holocene transition in the European Alps. However, the geomorphic response to this major environmental transition has only been punctually investigated. In this study, we propose a detailed reconstruction of post‐Last Glacial Maximum palaeoenvironmental...
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In: Geophysical Journal International, 2020, vol. 221, no. 3, p. 1719–1735
A network of seismometers has been installed on the Gugla rock glacier since October 2015 to estimate seismic velocity changes and detect microseismicity. These two processes are related to mechanical and structural variations occurring within the rock glacier. Seismic monitoring thus allows a better understanding of the dynamics of rock glaciers throughout the year. We observed seasonal...
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In: Remote Sensing, 2020, vol. 12, no. 3, p. 559
Active rock glaciers represent the best visual expression of mountain permafrost that can be mapped and monitored directly using remotely sensed data. Active rock glaciers are bodies that consist of a perennially frozen ice/rock mixture and express a distinct flow-like morphology indicating downslope permafrost creep movement. Annual rates of motion have ranged from a few millimeters to...
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In: The Cryosphere, 2019, vol. 13, no. 10, p. 2557–2578
Mountain permafrost is sensitive to climate change and is expected to gradually degrade in response to the ongoing atmospheric warming trend. Long-term monitoring of the permafrost thermal state is a key task, but problematic where temperatures are close to 0 ∘C because the energy exchange is then dominantly related to latent heat effects associated with phase change (ice–water), rather...
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In: Earth-Science Reviews, 2019, vol. 193, p. 299–316
Permafrost is a key element of the cryosphere and an essential climate variable in the Global Climate Observing System. There is no remote-sensing method available to reliably monitor the permafrost thermal state. To estimate permafrost distribution at a hemispheric scale, we employ an equilibrium state model for the temperature at the top of the permafrost (TTOP model) for the 2000–2016...
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In: Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 264
Permafrost warming has the potential to amplify global climate change, because when frozen sediments thaw it unlocks soil organic carbon. Yet to date, no globally consistent assessment of permafrost temperature change has been compiled. Here we use a global data set of permafrost temperature time series from the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost to evaluate temperature change across...
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In: Geomorphology, 2018, vol. 309, p. 60–76
The sedimentary connection which may occur between the front of active rock glaciers and torrential channels is not well understood, despite its potential impact on the torrential activity characterizing the concerned catchments. In this study, DEMs of difference (DoDs) covering various time intervals between 2013 and 2016 were obtained from LiDAR-derived multitemporal DEMs for three rapidly...
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In: Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 2017, vol. 29, no. 1, p. 21–33
When connected to torrential channels, the fronts of active rock glaciers constitute important sediment sources for gravitational transfer processes. In this study, a 2013– 16 time series of in situ webcam images from the western Swiss Alps was analyzed to characterize the erosion processes responsible for sediment transfer at the front of three rapidly moving rock glaciers and their...
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In: The Cryosphere, 2017, vol. 11, no. 6, p. 2957–2974
Geophysical methods are often used to characterize and monitor the subsurface composition of permafrost. The resolution capacity of standard methods, i.e. electrical resistivity tomography and refraction seismic tomography, depends not only on static parameters such as measurement geometry, but also on the temporal variability in the contrast of the geophysical target variables (electrical...
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In: Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 2017, vol. 28, no. 1, p. 237–248
The timing and duration of snow cover in areas of mountain permafrost affect the ground thermal regime by thermally insulating the ground from the atmosphere and modifying the radiation balance at the surface. Snow depth records, however, are sparse in high-mountain terrains. Here, we present data processing techniques to approximate the thermal insulation effect of snow cover. We propose...
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