Parcs

Remarks

Permanent/Monitoring Project

Progress of the thaw in the mountain permafrost has the correlation with the stability of steep slopes and rock faces. In the aspect of natural hazards, the monitoring of the response of the permafrost to the climate change therefore has the importance, especially in the Alps. For the alpine permafrost, due to the large effect of topography, the ground surface temperature has a wide range of local variability. Consequently, the distribution of the mountain permafrost should be estimated by empirical rules or modelling. It is therefore important to perform the actual measurement not only for the verification of the permafrost model, but also for the grasp of the current state of permafrost by the real data.
Since 1995, VAW has the ongoing measurement of the temperature and deformation on the Jungfrau-Ostgrat. Two boreholes of twenty metres deep are drilled outwards from the inner tunnel, on both of north and south sides of the ridge. Eight thermistors and six point-extensometres are installed for each borehole. The main object of the study is to monitor the permafrost response to the climate, and to improve the understanding of the heat flow process in the rock wall.

Entry no. 36586

Permafrost temperature monitoring in Alpine rock walls: Borehole temperature measurement in the East Ridge of Jungfrau