The Rhone glacier, situated in the Valais canton, is a renowned and frequently visited landmark thanks to its convenient access via the road to the Furka Pass. In recent years, however, the glacier has experienced significant melting, leading to the formation of a proglacial lake and threatening its iconic ice cave, a major tourist attraction. To reduce the melting, white tarps have been deployed across the glacier’s surface. Despite these efforts, late summer 2021 saw the emergence of large circular crevasses near the glacier terminus, signaling the potential collapse of an underlying subglacial cavity, an event that could further accelerate the glacier’s retreat.
In collaboration with the VAW lab at the ETH Zürich, we began work in the summer of 2022 to monitor and understand the evolution of this collapse feature. Using our drone-based ground-penetrating radar (GPR) system, we collected multiple high-density, repeat 4D GPR datasets over a year. This work aims to quantify changes in the cavity’s volume and the associated subglacial channels. A publication detailing our findings is currently under review.
All photos taken by Bastien Ruols.