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Temporal variability of diverse mountain permafrost slope movements derived from multi-year daily GPS data, Mattertal, Switzerland

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Abstract

In this study, high resolution surface measurements of diverse slope movements are compared to environmental factors such as ground surface temperature (GST) and snow cover, in order to reveal and compare velocity fluctuations caused by changing environmental conditions. The data cover 2 years (2011–2013) of Global Positioning System (GPS) and GST measurements at 18 locations on various slope movement types within an alpine study site in permafrost (Mattertal, Switzerland). Velocities have been estimated based on accurate daily GPS solutions. The mean annual velocities (MAV) observed at all GPS stations varied between 0.006 and 6.3 ma−1. MAV were higher in the period 2013 compared to 2012 at all stations. The acceleration in 2013 was accompanied by a longer duration of the snow cover and zero curtain and slightly lower GST. The amplitude (0–600 %) and the timing of the intra-annual variability were generally similar in both periods. At most stations, an annual cycle in the movement signal was observed, with a phase lag of 1–4 months to GST. Maximum velocity typically occurred in late summer and autumn, and minimum velocity in late winter and beginning of spring. The onset of acceleration always started in spring during the snowmelt period. At two stations located on steep rock glacier tongues, overprinted on the annual cycle, short-term peaks of velocity increase, occurred during the snowmelt period, indicating a strong influence of meltwater.

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Notes

  1. 01.10.2011–30.09.2012

  2. Also for R6c, the tilt is grater than its uncertainty, but inclinometer data are only available until July 2012.

  3. Mean and 95-quantile of the absolute relative difference between the horizontal velocity of the antenna and the foot (in comparison to the mean velocity of the antenna), (\( {v}_f-{v}_a \))\( \cdot \)(100/\( {\sigma}_{v_{\mathrm{antenna}}} \)) for R2b with the largest mast tilt (\( \mathrm{in}{\mathrm{c}}_{\max }= \)33 °).

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded through nanotera.ch, project X-Sense. This work was also supported by the Grid Computing Competence Center (GC3, www.gc3.uzh.ch) with computational infrastructure and support, including customized libraries (gc_gps and GC3Pie) and user support. This study would not have been possible without the collaboration with colleagues from the project X-Sense, notably Jan Beutel (Computer Engineering and Networks Lab of ETH Zurich) who has led the design and deployment of the measurement infrastructure, Dr. P. Limpach (Geodesy and Geodynamics Lab of ETH Zurich) who processed the daily GPS solutions and Hugo Raetzo (Federal Office for the Environment) who had provided valuable insight and discussion concerning slope movements and placement of GPS stations. We thank Reynald Delaloye (Physical Geography at the University of Fribourg) and Andreas Vieli (3G, Department of Geography of the University of Zurich) for valuable comments on the manuscript. The software iAssist (Keller et al. 2010) was used to program and read-out the iButtons.

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  1. Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Vanessa Wirz & Ross S. Purves

  2. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Prince George, Canada

    Marten Geertsema

  3. Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

    Stephan Gruber

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  1. Vanessa Wirz
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Correspondence to Vanessa Wirz.

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Wirz, V., Geertsema, M., Gruber, S. et al. Temporal variability of diverse mountain permafrost slope movements derived from multi-year daily GPS data, Mattertal, Switzerland. Landslides 13, 67–83 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-014-0544-3

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