High-Resolution DEM Extraction from Terrestrial LIDAR Topometry and Surface Kinematics of the Creeping Alpine Permafrost : The Laurichard Rock Glacier Case Study (Southern French Alps)

• Main Authors: Bodin, Xavier, Schoeneich, Philippe, Jaillet, Stéphane
• Other Authors: Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 - Institut de géographie alpine (UJF IGA), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF), Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de la Montagne (EDYTEM), Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2008
• Subjects: alpine permafrost; French Alps; high-resolution DEM; LIDAR; rock glacier morphology; surface kinematics; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Fairbanks; glacier; glaciers; Ice; permafrost; Alaska
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halsde-00575586

International audience The most common landforms associated with the creep of Alpine permafrost are the rock glaciers, the morphology of which reflects the complex processes of the internal deformation of the ice and debris mixture. In the present study, a terrestrial LIDAR device was employed to scan, at a sub-decimeter resolution, the surface of the Laurichard active rock glacier (Southern French Alps). Two points-clouds were generated at one-year interval (Sept. 2005 and Sept. 2006) and processed in order to produce two high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) and to compare them. Different methods were used in order to extract small-scale topography, quantify interannual surface changes, and determine the kinematic behavior of the creeping mass. For a better understanding of rock glacier dynamics, the results have also been compared to the geodetic measurements annually over a 20-year period, and to the geophysical evidences of rock glacier internal structure.