Articles | Volume 13, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-141-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-141-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
15 Jan 2019
Research article |
| 15 Jan 2019
| 15 Jan 2019
Evaluating the destabilization susceptibility of active rock glaciers in the French Alps
Marco Marcer
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institut d'Urbanisme et Géographie Alpine, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Laboratoire EDYTEM, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Le Bourget-du-Lac, France
Charlie Serrano
Institut d'Urbanisme et Géographie Alpine, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Laboratoire EDYTEM, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Le Bourget-du-Lac, France
Alexander Brenning
Department of Geography, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
Xavier Bodin
Laboratoire EDYTEM, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Le Bourget-du-Lac, France
Jason Goetz
Department of Geography, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
Philippe Schoeneich
Institut d'Urbanisme et Géographie Alpine, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
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Related subject area
Discipline: Frozen ground | Subject: Geomorphology
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Characterizing ground ice content and origin to better understand the seasonal surface dynamics of the Gruben rock glacier and the adjacent Gruben debris-covered glacier (southern Swiss Alps)
Discriminating viscous-creep features (rock glaciers) in mountain permafrost from debris-covered glaciers – a commented test at the Gruben and Yerba Loca sites, Swiss Alps and Chilean Andes
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Permafrost degradation at two monitored palsa mires in north-west Finland
Contrasted geomorphological and limnological properties of thermokarst lakes formed in buried glacier ice and ice-wedge polygon terrain
Recent degradation of interior Alaska permafrost mapped with ground surveys, geophysics, deep drilling, and repeat airborne lidar
Thaw-driven mass wasting couples slopes with downstream systems, and effects propagate through Arctic drainage networks
Ice content and interannual water storage changes of an active rock glacier in the dry Andes of Argentina
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This study reveals permafrost degradation by repeating old geophysical measurements at three Alpine sites. The compared data indicate that ice-poor permafrost is highly affected by temperature warming. The melting of ice-rich permafrost could not be identified. However, complex geomorphic processes are responsible for this rather than external temperature change. We suspect permafrost degradation here as well. In addition, we introduce a new current injection method for data acquisition.
Mariana Verdonen, Alexander Störmer, Eliisa Lotsari, Pasi Korpelainen, Benjamin Burkhard, Alfred Colpaert, and Timo Kumpula
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The study revealed a stable and even decreasing thickness of thaw depth in peat mounds with perennially frozen cores, despite overall rapid permafrost degradation within 14 years. This means that measuring the thickness of the thawed layer – a commonly used method – is alone insufficient to assess the permafrost conditions in subarctic peatlands. The study showed that climate change is the main driver of these permafrost features’ decay, but its effect depends on the peatland’s local conditions.
Stéphanie Coulombe, Daniel Fortier, Frédéric Bouchard, Michel Paquette, Simon Charbonneau, Denis Lacelle, Isabelle Laurion, and Reinhard Pienitz
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Buried glacier ice is widespread in Arctic regions that were once covered by glaciers and ice sheets. In this study, we investigated the influence of buried glacier ice on the formation of Arctic tundra lakes on Bylot Island, Nunavut. Our results suggest that initiation of deeper lakes was triggered by the melting of buried glacier ice. Given future climate projections, the melting of glacier ice permafrost could create new aquatic ecosystems and strongly modify existing ones.
Thomas A. Douglas, Christopher A. Hiemstra, John E. Anderson, Robyn A. Barbato, Kevin L. Bjella, Elias J. Deeb, Arthur B. Gelvin, Patricia E. Nelsen, Stephen D. Newman, Stephanie P. Saari, and Anna M. Wagner
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Permafrost is actively degrading across high latitudes due to climate warming. We combined thousands of end-of-summer active layer measurements, permafrost temperatures, geophysical surveys, deep borehole drilling, and repeat airborne lidar to quantify permafrost warming and thawing at sites across central Alaska. We calculate the mass of permafrost soil carbon potentially exposed to thaw over the past 7 years (0.44 Pg) is similar to the yearly carbon dioxide emissions of Australia.
Steven V. Kokelj, Justin Kokoszka, Jurjen van der Sluijs, Ashley C. A. Rudy, Jon Tunnicliffe, Sarah Shakil, Suzanne E. Tank, and Scott Zolkos
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In the semi-arid to arid Andes of Argentina, rock glaciers contain invisible and unknown amounts of ground ice that could become more important in future for the water availability during the dry season. The study shows that the investigated rock glacier represents an important long-term ice reservoir in the dry mountain catchment and that interannual changes of ground ice can store and release significant amounts of annual precipitation.
Johannes Buckel, Eike Reinosch, Andreas Hördt, Fan Zhang, Björn Riedel, Markus Gerke, Antje Schwalb, and Roland Mäusbacher
The Cryosphere, 15, 149–168, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-149-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-149-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents insights into the remote cryosphere of a mountain range at the Tibetan Plateau. Small-scaled studies and field data about permafrost occurrence are very scarce. A multi-method approach (geomorphological mapping, geophysics, InSAR time series analysis) assesses the lower occurrence of permafrost the range of 5350 and 5500 m above sea level (a.s.l.) in the Qugaqie basin. The highest, multiannual creeping rates up to 150 mm/yr are observed on rock glaciers.
Matthias Rode, Oliver Sass, Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer, Harald Schnepfleitner, and Christoph Gitschthaler
The Cryosphere, 14, 1173–1186, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1173-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1173-2020, 2020
Kelsey Winsor, Kate M. Swanger, Esther Babcock, Rachel D. Valletta, and James L. Dickson
The Cryosphere, 14, 1–16, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1-2020, 2020
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Short summary
We studied an ice-cored rock glacier in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, coupling ground-penetrating radar analyses with stable isotope and major ion geochemistry of (a) surface ponds and (b) buried clean ice. These analyses indicate that the rock glacier ice is fed by a nearby alpine glacier, recording multiple Holocene to late Pleistocene glacial advances. We demonstrate the potential to use rock glaciers and buried ice, common throughout Antarctica, to map previous glacial extents.
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Short summary
This study aims to assess the occurrence of rock glacier destabilization in the French Alps, a process that causes a landslide-like behaviour of permafrost debris slopes. A significant number of the landforms in the region were found to be experiencing destabilization. Multivariate analysis suggested a link between destabilization occurrence and permafrost thaw induced by climate warming. These results call for a regional characterization of permafrost hazards in the context of climate change.
This study aims to assess the occurrence of rock glacier destabilization in the French Alps, a...
