Geology, glacier retreat and permafrost degradation as controlling factors of slope instabilities in a high-mountain rock wall: the Monte Rosa east face
International audience The Monte Rosa east face, Italian Alps, is one of the highest flanks in the Alps (2200?4500 m a.s.l.). Steep hanging glaciers and permafrost cover large parts of the wall. Since the end of the Little Ice Age (about 1850), the hanging glaciers and firn fields have retreated con...
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ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-00299363v1 2023-05-15T16:36:56+02:00 Geology, glacier retreat and permafrost degradation as controlling factors of slope instabilities in a high-mountain rock wall: the Monte Rosa east face Fischer, L. Kääb, A. Huggel, C. Noetzli, J. Glaciology and Geomorphodynamics Group Department of geography 2006-09-11 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363/file/nhess-6-761-2006.pdf en eng HAL CCSD Copernicus Publ. / European Geosciences Union hal-00299363 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363/file/nhess-6-761-2006.pdf info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 1561-8633 EISSN: 1684-9981 Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363 Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Copernicus Publ. / European Geosciences Union, 2006, 6 (5), pp.761-772 [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2006 ftccsdartic 2021-08-21T23:04:23Z International audience The Monte Rosa east face, Italian Alps, is one of the highest flanks in the Alps (2200?4500 m a.s.l.). Steep hanging glaciers and permafrost cover large parts of the wall. Since the end of the Little Ice Age (about 1850), the hanging glaciers and firn fields have retreated continuously. During recent decades, the ice cover of the Monte Rosa east face experienced an accelerated and drastic loss in extent. Some glaciers have completely disappeared. New slope instabilities and detachment zones of gravitational mass movements developed and enhanced rock fall and debris flow activity was observed. This study is based on multidisciplinary investigations and shows that most of the detachment zones of rock fall and debris flows are located in areas, where the surface ice disappeared only recently. Furthermore, most of these detachment zones are located in permafrost zones, for the most part close to the modelled and estimated lower boundary of the regional permafrost distribution. In the view of ongoing or even enhanced atmospheric warming and associated changes it is therefore very likely that the slope instabilities in the Monte Rosa east face will continue to represent a critical hazard source. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice permafrost Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Monte Rosa ENVELOPE(162.850,162.850,-70.917,-70.917) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) |
op_collection_id |
ftccsdartic |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences |
spellingShingle |
[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences Fischer, L. Kääb, A. Huggel, C. Noetzli, J. Geology, glacier retreat and permafrost degradation as controlling factors of slope instabilities in a high-mountain rock wall: the Monte Rosa east face |
topic_facet |
[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environment [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences |
description |
International audience The Monte Rosa east face, Italian Alps, is one of the highest flanks in the Alps (2200?4500 m a.s.l.). Steep hanging glaciers and permafrost cover large parts of the wall. Since the end of the Little Ice Age (about 1850), the hanging glaciers and firn fields have retreated continuously. During recent decades, the ice cover of the Monte Rosa east face experienced an accelerated and drastic loss in extent. Some glaciers have completely disappeared. New slope instabilities and detachment zones of gravitational mass movements developed and enhanced rock fall and debris flow activity was observed. This study is based on multidisciplinary investigations and shows that most of the detachment zones of rock fall and debris flows are located in areas, where the surface ice disappeared only recently. Furthermore, most of these detachment zones are located in permafrost zones, for the most part close to the modelled and estimated lower boundary of the regional permafrost distribution. In the view of ongoing or even enhanced atmospheric warming and associated changes it is therefore very likely that the slope instabilities in the Monte Rosa east face will continue to represent a critical hazard source. |
author2 |
Glaciology and Geomorphodynamics Group Department of geography |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fischer, L. Kääb, A. Huggel, C. Noetzli, J. |
author_facet |
Fischer, L. Kääb, A. Huggel, C. Noetzli, J. |
author_sort |
Fischer, L. |
title |
Geology, glacier retreat and permafrost degradation as controlling factors of slope instabilities in a high-mountain rock wall: the Monte Rosa east face |
title_short |
Geology, glacier retreat and permafrost degradation as controlling factors of slope instabilities in a high-mountain rock wall: the Monte Rosa east face |
title_full |
Geology, glacier retreat and permafrost degradation as controlling factors of slope instabilities in a high-mountain rock wall: the Monte Rosa east face |
title_fullStr |
Geology, glacier retreat and permafrost degradation as controlling factors of slope instabilities in a high-mountain rock wall: the Monte Rosa east face |
title_full_unstemmed |
Geology, glacier retreat and permafrost degradation as controlling factors of slope instabilities in a high-mountain rock wall: the Monte Rosa east face |
title_sort |
geology, glacier retreat and permafrost degradation as controlling factors of slope instabilities in a high-mountain rock wall: the monte rosa east face |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363/file/nhess-6-761-2006.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(162.850,162.850,-70.917,-70.917) |
geographic |
Monte Rosa |
geographic_facet |
Monte Rosa |
genre |
Ice permafrost |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost |
op_source |
ISSN: 1561-8633 EISSN: 1684-9981 Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363 Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Copernicus Publ. / European Geosciences Union, 2006, 6 (5), pp.761-772 |
op_relation |
hal-00299363 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00299363/file/nhess-6-761-2006.pdf |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
_version_ |
1766027253648457728 |