Mountain instability monitoring
In alpine regions, the ability of icy soils to stabilize rocky slopes is diminishing, and water infiltration into the systems is increasing, changing the effective stresses. Today, there is an urgent need to better understand how certain natural hazards are triggered in the high mountains, and to develop new warning tools to improve risk management.
The aim of the Monitoring des instabilités de haute montagne (MIHM) project , carried out by CREALP for the Service des dangers naturels(SDANA) of the canton of Valais, is to improve risk management linked to high mountain instabilities by proposing indicators and warning thresholds linked to the increased probability of the occurrence of natural hazards.
The project has three main focuses:
- Site monitoring using spatial displacement measurements (GNSS and InSAR).
- Improved understanding of the processes involved in triggering debris flows at the front of rock glaciers, and in particular their hydrogeology. For this second axis, the Bonnard rock glacier, located above Zinal at 2900 m, was instrumented in order to collect, on a continuous basis, the data required for this study (water height at the rock glacier outlet, physico-chemical flow parameters, soil moisture at the front lobe, etc.). Sampling, carried out in collaboration with the University of Neuchâtel(UNINE), completed the study.
- Development, consolidation and combination ofenvironmental indicators, and definition of associated alert thresholds (nothing to report, vigilance and reinforced vigilance). The indicators are accessible to all those involved in mountain risk management via the Guardaval web portal.
Information
Project manager: Marie Arnoux
Project duration: 2018 – 2021
Project sponsor: Service des dangers naturels(SDANA) of the Canton of Valais
Further information
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Sassa, K., & Wang, G. hui. (2005). Mechanism of landslide-triggered debris flows: Liquefaction phenomena due to the undrained loading of torrent deposits. In Debris-flow Hazards and Related Phenomena (pp. 81-104). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Springman, S. M., Yamamoto, Y., Buchli, T., Hertrich, M., Maurer, H., Merz, K., Gärtner-Roer, I., & Seward, L. (2013). Rock Glacier Degradation and Instabilities in the European Alps: A Characterisation and Monitoring Experiment in the Turtmanntal, CH. In C. Margottini, P. Canuti, & K. Sassa (Eds.), Landslide Science and Practice (pp. 5-13). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
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