Permafrost thaw and destabilization of Alpine rock walls in the hot summer of 2003
Exceptional rockfall occurred throughout the Alps during the unusually hot summer of 2003. It is likely related to the fast thermal reaction of the subsurface of steep rock slopes and a corresponding destabilization of ice-filled discontinuities. This suggests that rockfall may be a direct and unexp...
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Online Access: | https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/19147 https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020051 |
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ftcarletonunivir:oai:carleton.ca:19147 2023-05-15T16:37:14+02:00 Permafrost thaw and destabilization of Alpine rock walls in the hot summer of 2003 Gruber, S. (Stephan) Hoelzle, M. (Martin) Haeberli, W. (Wilfried) 2004-07-16 https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/19147 https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020051 en eng https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/19147 doi:10.1029/2004GL020051 Geophysical Research Letters vol. 31 no. 13 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2004 ftcarletonunivir https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020051 2022-02-06T21:52:02Z Exceptional rockfall occurred throughout the Alps during the unusually hot summer of 2003. It is likely related to the fast thermal reaction of the subsurface of steep rock slopes and a corresponding destabilization of ice-filled discontinuities. This suggests that rockfall may be a direct and unexpectedly fast impact of climate change. Based upon our measurements in Alpine rock faces, we present model simulations illustrating the distribution and degradation of permafrost where the summer of 2003 has resulted in extreme thaw. We argue that hotter summers predicted by climate models for the coming decades will result in reduced stability of many alpine rock walls. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice permafrost Carleton University's Institutional Repository Geophysical Research Letters 31 13 n/a n/a |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Carleton University's Institutional Repository |
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ftcarletonunivir |
language |
English |
description |
Exceptional rockfall occurred throughout the Alps during the unusually hot summer of 2003. It is likely related to the fast thermal reaction of the subsurface of steep rock slopes and a corresponding destabilization of ice-filled discontinuities. This suggests that rockfall may be a direct and unexpectedly fast impact of climate change. Based upon our measurements in Alpine rock faces, we present model simulations illustrating the distribution and degradation of permafrost where the summer of 2003 has resulted in extreme thaw. We argue that hotter summers predicted by climate models for the coming decades will result in reduced stability of many alpine rock walls. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gruber, S. (Stephan) Hoelzle, M. (Martin) Haeberli, W. (Wilfried) |
spellingShingle |
Gruber, S. (Stephan) Hoelzle, M. (Martin) Haeberli, W. (Wilfried) Permafrost thaw and destabilization of Alpine rock walls in the hot summer of 2003 |
author_facet |
Gruber, S. (Stephan) Hoelzle, M. (Martin) Haeberli, W. (Wilfried) |
author_sort |
Gruber, S. (Stephan) |
title |
Permafrost thaw and destabilization of Alpine rock walls in the hot summer of 2003 |
title_short |
Permafrost thaw and destabilization of Alpine rock walls in the hot summer of 2003 |
title_full |
Permafrost thaw and destabilization of Alpine rock walls in the hot summer of 2003 |
title_fullStr |
Permafrost thaw and destabilization of Alpine rock walls in the hot summer of 2003 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Permafrost thaw and destabilization of Alpine rock walls in the hot summer of 2003 |
title_sort |
permafrost thaw and destabilization of alpine rock walls in the hot summer of 2003 |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/19147 https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020051 |
genre |
Ice permafrost |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost |
op_source |
Geophysical Research Letters vol. 31 no. 13 |
op_relation |
https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/19147 doi:10.1029/2004GL020051 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL020051 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
31 |
container_issue |
13 |
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n/a |
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n/a |
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1766027533444186112 |