Geology, glacier retreat and permafrost degradation as controlling factors of slope instabilities in a high-mountain rock wall: the Monte Rosa east face
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 recen...
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:56fc0e04ba544a5f9a1056ddef0daf9f 2023-05-15T16:36:53+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 L. Fischer A. Kääb C. Huggel J. Noetzli 2006-01-01 http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/6/761/2006/nhess-6-761-2006.pdf https://doaj.org/article/56fc0e04ba544a5f9a1056ddef0daf9f en eng Copernicus Publications 1561-8633 1684-9981 http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/6/761/2006/nhess-6-761-2006.pdf https://doaj.org/article/56fc0e04ba544a5f9a1056ddef0daf9f undefined Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Vol 6, Iss 5, Pp 761-772 (2006) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2006 fttriple 2023-01-22T17:32:58Z 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 Unknown Monte Rosa ENVELOPE(162.850,162.850,-70.917,-70.917) |
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language |
English |
topic |
geo envir |
spellingShingle |
geo envir L. Fischer A. Kääb C. Huggel J. Noetzli 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 |
geo envir |
description |
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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
L. Fischer A. Kääb C. Huggel J. Noetzli |
author_facet |
L. Fischer A. Kääb C. Huggel J. Noetzli |
author_sort |
L. Fischer |
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 |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/6/761/2006/nhess-6-761-2006.pdf https://doaj.org/article/56fc0e04ba544a5f9a1056ddef0daf9f |
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 |
Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Vol 6, Iss 5, Pp 761-772 (2006) |
op_relation |
1561-8633 1684-9981 http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/6/761/2006/nhess-6-761-2006.pdf https://doaj.org/article/56fc0e04ba544a5f9a1056ddef0daf9f |
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_version_ |
1766027210198614016 |