Climate change impacts on mass movements — Case studies from the European Alps
This paper addresses the current knowledge on climate change impacts on mass movement activity in mountain environments by illustrating characteristic cases of debris flows, rock slope failures and landslides from the French, Italian, and Swiss Alps. It is expected that events are likely to occur le...
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ftunivgeneve:oai:unige.ch:aou:unige:121758 2023-10-01T03:58:53+02:00 Climate change impacts on mass movements — Case studies from the European Alps Stoffel, Markus Tiranti, D. Huggel, C. 2014 https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:121758 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.02.102 https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:121758 unige:121758 info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess ISSN: 0048-9697 Science of the Total Environment, vol. 493 (2014) p. 1255-1266 info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/333.7-333.9 Mass movements Climate change Impacts Debris flows Landslides Rockfalls info:eu-repo/semantics/article Text Article scientifique info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2014 ftunivgeneve https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.02.102 2023-09-07T07:51:46Z This paper addresses the current knowledge on climate change impacts on mass movement activity in mountain environments by illustrating characteristic cases of debris flows, rock slope failures and landslides from the French, Italian, and Swiss Alps. It is expected that events are likely to occur less frequently during summer, whereas the anticipated increase of rainfall in spring and fall could likely alter debris-flow activity during the shoulder seasons (March, April, November, and December). The magnitude of debris flows could become larger due to larger amounts of sediment delivered to the channels and as a result of the predicted increase in heavy precipitation events. At the same time, however, debris-flow volumes in high-mountain areas will depend chiefly on the stability and/or movement rates of permafrost bodies, and destabilized rock glaciers could lead to debris flows without historic precedents in the future. The frequency of rock slope failures is likely to increase, as excessively warm air temperatures, glacier shrinkage, as well as permafrost warming and thawing will affect and reduce rock slope stability in the direction that adversely affects rock slope stability. Changes in landslide activity in the French and Western Italian Alps will likely depend on differences in elevation. Above 1500 m asl, the projected decrease in snow season duration in future winters and springs will likely affect the frequency, number and seasonality of landslide reactivations. In Piemonte, for instance, 21st century landslides have been demonstrated to occur more frequently in early spring and to be triggered by moderate rainfalls, but also to occur in smaller numbers. On the contrary, and in line with recent observations, events in autumn, characterized by a large spatial density of landslide occurrences might become more scarce in the Piemonte region. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Université de Genève: Archive ouverte UNIGE Science of The Total Environment 493 1255 1266 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Genève: Archive ouverte UNIGE |
op_collection_id |
ftunivgeneve |
language |
English |
topic |
info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/333.7-333.9 Mass movements Climate change Impacts Debris flows Landslides Rockfalls |
spellingShingle |
info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/333.7-333.9 Mass movements Climate change Impacts Debris flows Landslides Rockfalls Stoffel, Markus Tiranti, D. Huggel, C. Climate change impacts on mass movements — Case studies from the European Alps |
topic_facet |
info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/333.7-333.9 Mass movements Climate change Impacts Debris flows Landslides Rockfalls |
description |
This paper addresses the current knowledge on climate change impacts on mass movement activity in mountain environments by illustrating characteristic cases of debris flows, rock slope failures and landslides from the French, Italian, and Swiss Alps. It is expected that events are likely to occur less frequently during summer, whereas the anticipated increase of rainfall in spring and fall could likely alter debris-flow activity during the shoulder seasons (March, April, November, and December). The magnitude of debris flows could become larger due to larger amounts of sediment delivered to the channels and as a result of the predicted increase in heavy precipitation events. At the same time, however, debris-flow volumes in high-mountain areas will depend chiefly on the stability and/or movement rates of permafrost bodies, and destabilized rock glaciers could lead to debris flows without historic precedents in the future. The frequency of rock slope failures is likely to increase, as excessively warm air temperatures, glacier shrinkage, as well as permafrost warming and thawing will affect and reduce rock slope stability in the direction that adversely affects rock slope stability. Changes in landslide activity in the French and Western Italian Alps will likely depend on differences in elevation. Above 1500 m asl, the projected decrease in snow season duration in future winters and springs will likely affect the frequency, number and seasonality of landslide reactivations. In Piemonte, for instance, 21st century landslides have been demonstrated to occur more frequently in early spring and to be triggered by moderate rainfalls, but also to occur in smaller numbers. On the contrary, and in line with recent observations, events in autumn, characterized by a large spatial density of landslide occurrences might become more scarce in the Piemonte region. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stoffel, Markus Tiranti, D. Huggel, C. |
author_facet |
Stoffel, Markus Tiranti, D. Huggel, C. |
author_sort |
Stoffel, Markus |
title |
Climate change impacts on mass movements — Case studies from the European Alps |
title_short |
Climate change impacts on mass movements — Case studies from the European Alps |
title_full |
Climate change impacts on mass movements — Case studies from the European Alps |
title_fullStr |
Climate change impacts on mass movements — Case studies from the European Alps |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate change impacts on mass movements — Case studies from the European Alps |
title_sort |
climate change impacts on mass movements — case studies from the european alps |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:121758 |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_source |
ISSN: 0048-9697 Science of the Total Environment, vol. 493 (2014) p. 1255-1266 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.02.102 https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:121758 unige:121758 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.02.102 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
493 |
container_start_page |
1255 |
op_container_end_page |
1266 |
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1778532109381533696 |