Ice thawing, mountains falling - are alpine rock slope failures increasing?

• Main Authors: Huggel, Christian, Allen, Steven, Deline, Philip, Fischer, L., Noetzli, Jeannette, Ravanel, Ludovic
• Other Authors: Glaciology, Geomorphodynamics and Geochronology, Physical Geography Division, Department of Geography, Universität Zürich Zürich = University of Zurich (UZH), Climate and Environmental Physics Bern (CEP), Physikalisches Institut Bern, Universität Bern / University of Bern (UNIBE)-Universität Bern / University of Bern (UNIBE), Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de Montagne (EDYTEM), Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Glaciology and Geomorphodynamics Group, Department of geography, Glaciology, Geomorphodynamics and Geochronology, Department of Geography Zürich, Universität Zürich Zürich = University of Zurich (UZH)-Universität Zürich Zürich = University of Zurich (UZH)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: https://hal.science/halsde-00873318

Many high-mountain environments of the world have seen dramatic changes in the past years and decades. Glaciers are retreating and downwasting, often at a dramatically fast pace, leaving large amounts of potentially unstable debris, moraines and rock slopes behind. Although in the main invisible to the eye of an observer, permafrost, i.e. rock and debris with permanent zero or subzero temperatures, is thawing. Several slopes have become unstable and landslides potentially related to permafrost degradation have received wide-ranging attention from both scientists and the media. A number of those landslides can be related to the effects of recent changes in the cryosphere, which are ultimately driven by changes in climatic parameters, in particular temperature and precipitation.