Integrated Geomatic Techniques for Assessing Morphodynamic Processes and Related Hazards in Glacial and Periglacial Areas (Western Italian Alps) in a Context of Climate Change

Abstract

High elevation environments proved to be particularly sensitive to climate changes, in relation to an increase in instability especially in areas where the cryosphere is present. The purpose of this work is to present the geomatic methodologies that have been applied to study dynamical areas, such as glacial and periglacial ones, in order to detect morphological changes that can be ascribed to climatic changes. The working group has been composed by members of the University of Torino (GeoSitLab laboratory) and of the CNR-IRPI Torino, in the framework of the Alcotra 2007–2013 project n.56 GlaRiskAlp (Glacial Risks in the Western Alps). Remote sensing techniques, necessary for large or remote areas, have been integrated, for the purposes of this study, by GNSS campaigns in the field, using a fixed GPS station, and a kinematical one. In order to identify landscape changes over the tens of years, it is particularly useful the digital aerial photogrammetry which exploits historical aerial photos that are orthorectified, to extract themes for a topographical and geomorphological characterization of landscape at regional scale. For the specific purposes of our work, the DEM extraction, at a local scale, from flights of different years, is useful to make comparisons of glacier surface. All data have been implemented in a GIS.