Permafrost monitoring

Permafrost monitoring

This long-term project aims at studying the evolution of mountain permafrost in various sites of the Swiss Alps.  The following parameters are monitored :

• Ground temperatures in 13 boreholes drilled in talus slopes at Les Attelas (Verbier), Lapires (Nendaz) and Petit Mont Rouge (Arolla), in a moraine at the Gentianes pass (Verbier-Nendaz) and in bedrock at the top of the Mont Fort (Verbier-Nendaz) and at the Pointe du Tsaté (Evolène);
• Ground surface temperatures in a hundred locations spread over 12 sites;
• Annual and seasonal velocities of about ten rock glaciers with dGPS, permanent GPS and UAVs;
• Electrical resistivities in the Attelas talus slope.

A large part of these data are integrated in the PERMOS network (PERmafrost MOnitoring Switzerland). PERMOS data can be visualized here.