Rockfall from an increasingly unstable mountain slope driven by climate warming

Article Article scientifique Article Rockfall from an increasingly unstable mountain slope driven by climate warming eng 2024-02-23 2024-02-23 author Stoffel Markus 0000-0003-0816-1303 131626 Forel Communs (FOREL) author Trappmann Daniel 866361 author Coullie Mattias Ian 876363 Services communs de l'Institut des sciences de l'environnement (ISECO) author Ballesteros Canovas Juan Antonio 0000-0003-4439-397X 821103 author Corona Christophe 0000-0002-7645-6157 947557 249-254 10.1038/s41561-024-01390-9 1752-0894 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01390-9 <p>Rockfall in high-mountain regions is thought to be changing due to accelerating climate warming and permafrost degradation, possibly resulting in enhanced activity and larger volumes involved in individual falls. Yet the systematic lack of long-term observations of rockfall largely hampers an in-depth assessment of how activity may have been altered by a warming climate. Here we compile a continuous time series from 1920 to 2020 of periglacial rockfall activity using growth-ring records from 375 trees damaged by past rockfall at Täschgufer (Swiss Alps). We show that the ongoing warming favours the release of rockfall and that changes in activity correlate significantly with summer air temperatures at interannual and decadal timescales. An initial increase in rockfall occurred in the late 1940s to early 1950s following early twentieth century warming. From the mid-1980s, activity reached new and hitherto unprecedented levels. This long-term record of rockfall activity can help to inform the design of vital mitigation and risk reduction measures in inhabited mountain environments.</p> Dewey 550 Dewey 333.7-333.9 18 Institut des sciences de l'environnement 0DB 41 Département F.-A. Forel des sciences de l'environnement et de l'eau 153 42 Département des sciences de la Terre 154 false 1394 C-CIA Climate Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene Nature geoscience 17 3 548804a5-b41f-4c76-8c6c-49a21d39a51e Article (Published version) Public Article-scientifique-from-unpaywall.pdf 2663015 application/pdf CC BY-4.0 2e557abea042edef8ddfde445f6c98f5a0ede9e31b3a14f31da4c63a5dd09c30 openAccess Centres et instituts / Institut des sciences de l'environnement Faculté des sciences / Section des sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement / Département F.-A. Forel des sciences de l'environnement et de l'eau Faculté des sciences / Section des sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement / Département des sciences de la Terre

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Rockfall from an increasingly unstable mountain slope driven by climate warming	Nature geoscience			2024	187	55

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