PROJECT RockSAR
Identification of millimetric rock slope deformation with InSAR
Climate change is significantly modifying precipitation patterns and thermal conditions worldwide. Climatic conditions are changing particularly fast in many high-mountain regions around the globe. In the Alps, temperature has increased twice as much (+2 °C) as the global mean (+1 °C) over the last 150 years alone. An additional warming of several degrees Celsius is expected until 2100.
Current climate change causes increased liquid precipitation, a growing number of heavy rain events, increasingly stationary weather conditions (e.g. constant rain) and high-alpine permafrost thaw. As a result, potentially hazardous mass movements such as rockfalls and rockslides are projected to rise in magnitude and frequency. Combined with the increasing human use of the Alpine region, these natural hazards represent a considerable risk factor that is expected grow for the foreseeable future.
Large mass movements are often preceded by deformation in the millimeter range. Small-scale precursory deformation is extremely hard to identify and thus can only be studied at known, active slope failures. Monitoring- and early-warning-systems are therefore mostly restricted to well-known hazard spots and local scale coverage (< 1 km²).
In the ARGE ALP project “RockSAR – Identification of millimetric rock slope deformation with InSAR” we are performing extensive InSAR analyses (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) to identify currently unknown, slow rock slope failures in the Eastern Alps. Currently, InSAR represents the only method which allows precise, direct and large-scale detection of ground movement over long times periods.
The project is thematically in line with previous ARGE ALP projects “Fels- und Bergstürze in Permafrost Gebieten“ and “Der Einfluss von Gletscher-Randklüften auf Felsstürze“ and thus focuses particularly on high-alpine permafrost regions. In this particular context the project will investigate if identified small-scale ground movement can be used as proxy to characterize high-alpine permafrost.
PROFILE
Contribution GEORESEARCH: Co-leadership
Project partner: Provincial Geological Service Salzburg
Project duration: 2022 - 2024
Funding: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Alpenländer (ARGE ALP)
