GLACIORISK: Survey and prevention of extreme glaciological hazards in European montainous regions

• Research unit: EU RFP
• Project number: 00.0209-2

Key words (English)

Earth Sciences; Environmental Protection; Meteorology; Safety

Alternative project number (English)

EU project number: EVG1-2000-00018

Research programs (English)

EU-programme: 5. Frame Research Programme - 1.4a.8 Generic R&D activities

Short description (English)

See abstract

Further information (English)

Full name of research-institution/enterprise:
Service des Forêts et du Paysage du canton du Valais
Département Transports, Equipement et Environnement

Abstract (English)

Glacier catastrophes like extreme floods due to lake outburst or sudden draining of internal water pockets and devastating ice avalanches are scarce but highly dangerous because unpredictable. Today, dangerous sites like moraine dammed lakes or serac falls are NOT systematically surveyed, by lack of knowledge and financial support. Dangerous sites are hundreds in Europe (F, CH, I, A, N, IS). Because of varying environmental and climatological conditions (increasing tourism, global change inducing a glacier retreat in the Alps-), the risk is increasing. The fight against this hazard starts with the development of a data base gathering every information on past events and on actual dangerous sites. A durable network of field technicians will permanently up-date this database. Scientific studies on each phenomenon will be conducted on selected sites. Survey techniques and methods will be elaborated and tested in order to prevent and mitigate new catastrophes.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 00.0209-2