Item: Monitoring of the Weissmies Glacier before the failure event of September 10, 2017 with Radar Interferometry and High-Resolution Deformation Camera
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Title: Monitoring of the Weissmies Glacier before the failure event of September 10, 2017 with Radar Interferometry and High-Resolution Deformation Camera
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings 2018, Innsbruck, Austria
Authors:
- Lorenz Meier [ Geopraevent AG, Technoparkstrasse 1, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland ]
- Mylène Jacquemart [ Geopraevent AG, Technoparkstrasse 1, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland ]
- Richard Steinacher [ Geopraevent AG, Technoparkstrasse 1, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland ]
- Dominik Jäger [ Geopraevent AG, Technoparkstrasse 1, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland ]
- Martin Funk [ TH Zurich, Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland ]
Date: 2018-10-07
Abstract: When parts of the glacier on the northwest face of Weissmies in the Saas valley in Switzerland showed first signs of instability in the summer of 2014, local authorities requested that a monitoring system be installed. Between October 2014 and April 2017, our interferometric radar system allowed us to predict several small (< 20’000 m3) ice avalanches, providing authorities with advance warning times of hours to days. In February 2017, we complemented the system with a 42 megapixel camera to assess the suitability of camera-derived deformations for monitoring purposes. After the radar was removed in April 2017, the camera-based system provided a continuous, cost-effective way of monitoring the glacier when visibility is good, which was deemed sufficient while velocities remained stable. In mid-August 2017, the camera system detected a significant acceleration of the glacier and the radar was reinstalled to provide around-the-clock monitoring. On September 9th, extrapolation of inverse velocities predicted that failure would occur within the next 24 hours, and 220 people in the valley floor were evacuated. In the early morning of September 10, about 400,000 m3 of ice detached in several small portions over about ten minutes and caused no damage.
Object ID: ISSW2018_P07.6.pdf
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s):
Keywords: ice avalanches, warning system, alarm system, radar, feature tracking
Page Number(s): 661-664
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