Mountain Hydrology and Mass Movements

Dr. Manfred Stähli

The Research Unit investigates natural hazard processes in mountainous areas, in particular the triggering and propagation of floods, sediment transport, landslides, debris flows and rock fall. Further, it examines impacts and needs with regard to protective measures. A further focus of the unit is on snow and water resources. Process studies on the scale of slopes, channels and catchments also form the basis for the development of simulation models and of hazard assessment procedures and for the design of countermeasures. Damage and damaging processes due to frequent and extreme events are assessed as prerequisites for the risk-based and sustainable management of natural hazards.

Principal stakeholders: scientific community, federal and local agencies and professional engineers in Switzerland and abroad.

News

The WSL site in Sion has organized with the Canton of Valais a conference on "Natural Hazards", 21 Nov 2012 (download of the presentations, german/french only)

Swiss Association for Hydrology and Limnology SGHL and Swiss Hydrological Commission CHy (Eds) 2011.  Auswirkungen der Klimaänderung auf die Wasserkraftnutzung – Synthesebericht. Beiträge zur Hydrologie der Schweiz, Nr. 38, 28 S., Bern. ISBN 978-3-033-02970-5 / ISSN 1421-1130 (only in german)

23 Nov 2012, Sunstar Parkhotel Davos: Forum für Wissen 2012 (Information and entry in german)

1st/2nd Oct 2012: Visit of the WSL research sites in the Vallais (Vallée-de-la-Sionne, Illgraben, Leuk) by the president of the ETH domain F. Schiesser and the WSL director K. Steffen.

Subunits

• Hydrological Forecasts
  Dr. Massimiliano Zappa
• Mountain Torrents
  Dr. Alexandre Badoux
• Snow Hydrology
  Dr. Tobias Jonas
• Mass Movements
  Dr. Brian McArdell