TEMPEST - TEMPerature ESTimation for mountain glaciers

TEMPEST combines an unprecedented inventory of historic glacier meteorological datasets with dedicated measurements in the Swiss Alps to develop a new model of air temperature for mountain glaciers globally.

Monitoring Kandersteg's Spitze Stei Slope

We monitor the Spitze Stei Slope with in situ instrumentation on the ground and a nearby infrasound antenna.

EMERGE - Extreme droughts in mountain regions

EMERGE will investigate the impacts of historic megadroughts on water fluxes and ecosystems in mountain regions, and use this knowledge to develop stress-test scenarios for a possible future megadrought in the Swiss Alps.

Integrating optical and radar satellite data for early mass movement detection and warning

Remote sensing data – in particular optical and radar imagery – are a powerful tool to monitor the evolution of alpine mass movements. In this project, we investigate how these tools can support regional-scale hazard mitigation and improve our understanding of the processes driving slope instabilities in alpine terrain.

CCAMM-2 Early Warning for Alpine Mass Movements

Remote sensing methods provide powerful tools for monitoring and early warning of alpine mass movements. In this project, we investigate how modern machine learning tools, seismic and infrasound data, and satellite images can help forecast mass movements in alpine terrain.

Enhance existing Swiss precipitation products with particular regards to snowfall

In Switzerland there are hundreds of stations to measure snow depth. In the absence of sufficient snow water equivalent data, the combination of precipitation and snow depth data along with snow modelling and data assimilation methods enable determining biases in existing precipitation products.

Discovering forgotten glacier images in a new glance (DEFOGGING)

This project sets out to guarantee long-term accessibility to a unique record of glacier photographs that have been collected over the years. Starting from a pool of over 50,000 images available at the project's host institution, the aim is to integrate these historic documents in the Image Archive

ICOS-2: Integrated Carbon Observation System in Switzerland, Phase 2017-2021

Die Forschungsstation Seehornwald Davos wurde in den 80er-Jahren von der WSL initiiert und ist damit eine der ältesten permanent betriebenen Wald-Vegetations-Forschungsstationen in der Schweiz.

Using different sensor types to improve the signal interpretation

Indirect bedload transport measurements help to better understand how coarse solid particles are transported in steep streams (torrents) and mountain rivers. We use three different sensor types to improve the signal interpretation: geophone, accelerometer, and microphone.

Regional warnings for slope instabilities: Napf pilot study

In this project, elements of regional landslide early warning are applied in a pilot early warning system in the Napf region, and their added value for such early warning systems is assessed.

drought.ch @ BAFU

Das Ziel dieses Projekts ist die Erarbeitung eines Konzeptes für die Überführung von Elementen der bestehenden Forschungsplattform drought.ch in den operationellen Betrieb beim BAFU sowie eine Integration bei naturgefahren.ch.

SedSlope

This project aims at assessing the contribution of sediment erosion from steep slopes adjacent to channel beds to the sediment transport in small catchments.

MACHINE LEARNING AIDED FORECASTING OF SUBSEASONAL DROUGHT INDICATORS IN THE EUROPEAN ALPS

This research aims to explore the predictability of drought at a monthly time horizon in the form of low flow in Switzerland and the European Alps by using machine learning techniques and linking large scale weather patterns with local hydrological events.

TreeNet - The biological drought and growth indicator network

TreeNet ist ein internationales Beobachtungs- und Forschungsnetzwerk, in dem Punktdendrometer automatisch die täglichen Stammradiusschwankungen von Bäumen erfassen. Der kontinuierliche Fluss von Daten liefert Echtzeitinformationen über die Wasserverhältnisse im Baum und das radial Stammwachstum

Hundred years of Swiss glacier changes from historical terrestrial images

The aim of this project is to process a unique archive of several thousand historical terrestrial images that have been acquired in the 1920s until 1940s by the Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo). A 3D-​representation of the largest Swiss glaciers will be reconstructed from stereoscopic image pairs and using modern photogrammetric techniques. These will then be compared to modern topography and yield an estimate of the total ice volume change.

Projecting Sea-​Level Rise: from Ice Sheets to Local Implications (PROTECT)

The overarching scientific objective of PROTECT is to assess and project changes in the land-​based cryosphere with quantified uncertainties, to produce robust global, regional and local projections of SLR on a wide range of timescales.

Experimental investigation of channelised subglacial flow and till dynamics (LEAD)

The goal of this project is to overcome the shortcomings of decades-old model parameterisations by investigating the hydrological and mechanical conditions beneath a till-​bedded glacier with physical experiments.

Process-​based modelling of global glacier changes (PROGGRES)

This project sets out to revise both the basis upon which global glacier changes estimates are computed, and the way these estimates can be interpreted. This will be done by harnessing recent advances in obtaining globally-​complete glaciological data, and by including some hitherto unaccounted processes into global glacier projections.

4D-​Antarctica

The 4D-​Antarctica project focuses on creating and consolidating an unprecedented dataset composed of ice-​sheet wide hydrology and lithospheric products, Earth Observation datasets, and state of the art ice-​sheet and hydrology models for the whole of Antarctica.

Wasserkraftwerkportfolio "ewz"

Für die Elektrizitätswerk der Stadt Zürich ("ewz") soll eine Übersicht zum zukünftigen Wasserdargebot in den Kraftwerke ihren Portfolio erstellt werden. Die Ergebnisse sollen für den heutigen und künftigen Wasserverfügbarkeit bereitgestellt werden.

Wasserdargebot Kanton Zürich

In dieser Studie wurden anhand der CH2018 Klimaszenarien und den hydrologischen Projektionen Hydro-CH2018, Abflussszenarien (also das zukünftige Wasserdargebot) für den Kanton Zürich erstellt.

Wasserbilanz der Schweiz

Modellgestützte Bilanzierung des Wasserhaushaltes der Grosseinzugsgebiete der Schweiz

HOPE - High-elevation precipitation in High-Mountain Asia

High-mountain precipitation is a key variable for simulating glacier runoff in High-Mountain Asia but is poorly known and difficult to measure directly. This project investigates the quantity, seasonality and variability of precipitation in selected catchments of High-Mountain Asia, and determines t

Snow-atmosphere interactions

The main objective of this study is to improve high-resolution seasonal snow cover predictions for large river basins in the Alps. Key to these improvements are the coupling of physically based models for both atmospheric and snow cover processes to better resolve processes that act at the snow - atmosphere interface.

Lake regulations

With the help of climate scenarios CH2018 and various models, we produce projections of the regulation of Swiss lakes until the end of the century.

SlimForest

We aim at providing the link between the belowground water regime, related to the triggering of shallow landslides, and aboveground structural properties of forests as well as between ground truth and remote sensing data in view of up-scaling from the local to the regional and supra-regional scale.

Alpine Drought Obvservatory

According to the Alpine Convention, water scarcity and related conflicts are becoming a worrying topic in many Alpine regions, depending on water from snowmelt and glaciers.

Niedrigwasserdauerkurven

Der Bedarf nach einer solideren Grundlage für die Abschätzung von Niedrigwasserabflüssen in ungemessenen Gebieten ist im Nachgang zu den Trockenheitsereignissen der Jahre 2003, 2011, 2015 und 2018 gestiegen. Die massgebenden Speicher und Einflussfaktoren wie zum Beispiel Versickerungsstrecken werden

On future water resources in Switzerland"

Continuing climate change modifies the water supply and accentuates the pressure from competing water uses.

Seeregulierung und Klimawandel

Mit den vorgesehenen Untersuchungen soll die Wirksamkeit der Seeregulierungs-Vorschriften basierend auf den Klimaszenarien CH2018 überprüft werden. Eine mehrstufige Studie klärt den Handlungsbedarf bei den Regulier-Reglementen.

Glacier lake outburst floods and englacial water flow

Glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are a natural hazard characteristic of high alpine environments. This project sets out to take advantage of a unique situation emerging at Glacier de la Plaine Morte, Switzerland: With the aim of mitigating an annually-​occurring GLOF, the local authorities have

Active/Passive REmote Sensing of Snow (APRESS)

APRESS erforscht Methoden der aktiven und passiven Mikrowellen-Fernerkundung (L- bis Ka-Band) in Anwendung auf schneebedeckte Böden.

Mehrzweckspeicher als Zukunftsmodell?

Obwohl die Schweiz über reichlich Wasser verfügt, kann es zukünftig lokal zu Engpässen kommen. Mehrzweckspeicher stellen eine Möglichkeit dar, um auf zukünftige Wasserknappheit zu reagieren. Dieses Projekt untersucht die Chancen und Risiken einer gemeinsamen Bewirtschaftung.

Sicher Wandern 2040

Auch in Zukunft sollen die knapp 65'000km des Schweizer Wanderwegnetzes möglichst gefahrlos begangen werden können. Eine Literatursynthese soll die für das Wanderwegwesen relevanten Naturgefahren identifiziert und Auswirkungen einer Klimaveränderung abschätzen.

ELBARA Radiometer in MOSAiC Expedition

An L-band ELBARA microwave Radiometer is used on the MOSAiC arctic expedition for close range sensing of sea ice properties.

Rescue, documentation and re-analysis of glacier monitoring data

Long-​term glacier monitoring in Switzerland has resulted in some of the longest and most complete data series at the global scale. The direct observations of mass balance date back until the late 19th century and, at some sites, have been continued until today. The present project sets out to significantly advance the documentation of long-​term glacier data within Swiss glacier monitoring activities.

Peru GROWS - Peruvian glacier retreat and its impact on water security

Peruvian glaciers are an important water resource for downstream populations and have shrunk significantly in recent decades in response to climatic change. This project investigates the impacts of ongoing and projected climatic change on glacier retreat and water resources in Peru's most glacierise

CCAMM Task 1.0: Downscaling Meorological forcings.

The WSL program Climate Change Impacts on Alpine Mass Movements (CCAMM) comprises projects covering a range of topics in natural hazards. Most investigations use models and thus require climate forcing data. The aim of this task is to provide meteorological forcings at the slope scale and in high temporal resolution.

Towards automated monitoring of alpine mass movements

This project aims at setting up an interactive network of autonomously communicating instruments to capture processes happening during and directly after alpine mass movements.

Schützen gut strukturierte und gepflegte Wälder besser?

Waldwirkungen gegen flachgründige Rutschungen praxistauglich zu erfassen ist nach wie vor ungelöst. Das Beispiel "Sachseln" deutet darauf hin, dass gut strukturierte Wälder Hänge besser stabilisieren. Darauf aufbauend werden Interaktive Karten zur Anfälligkeit von Wäldern auf Rutschungen erstellt.

Assessing the potential of soil wetness data for landslide early warning

This SNF-project assesses the value of in-situ soil wetness measurements in advertising imminent occurrence of landslides for potential use in future Landslide Early Warning Systems.

The Swiss plate geophone system

This project aims to further develop the Swiss plate geophone system, a passive seismic method to measure bedload transport in water courses, with a new set of controlled experiments and field calibration measurements.

Sediment Cascades in Alpine Mass Movements

This project aims at further developing models for the prediction of magnitudes and frequencies of debris-flow events in a changing climate.

Understanding glaciers and hydrological changes in the Tibetan Plateau using high resolution monitoring and modelling

This collaboration with the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Delft University and Northumbria University is supported by the Royal Society (UK) and the European Space Agency (ESA). It aims to advance our understanding of the cryosphere and hydrology of high-elevation catchments on the Ti

RAVEN - Rapid mass loss of debris-covered glaciers in High-Mountain Asia

One of the most important questions of climate change impact research today is how glaciers are responding to global warming. ERC-funded, RAVEN aims to determine the role that debris-covered glaciers play in the water cycle of High Mountain Asia and better incorporate processes unique to debris-cove

Rock sediment disposition

Recently, rock-ice deposits have come into focus for their potential to provide sources of secondary hazards and as an alternative water resource in a changing climate. The aim of this project is to model the evolution of the thermal regime of rock-ice deposits under future climate scenarios.

Demonstrator for flexible SHP (SmallFlex): Real-time hydrological forecasts

Dans ce projet, la valeur ajoutée des prévisions hydrologiques à très court terme (< 6 h) et à long terme (1 mois) pour l'exploitation d'une petite centrale hydroélectrique alpine (Gletsch-Oberwald) est étudiée.

Risks for small hydropower plants associated with climate change

estimate the impact of climate change on the inflow in a snowmelt dominated tributary of a small hydropower plant using a stochastic 2-dimensional weather generator, a high-resolution energy balance snow cover and a gridded hydrological model

A seismological study of mass movements

The aim of this project is to better understand the dynamics and triggering mechanisms of mass movements in a changing climate.

Hydro-CH2018: Multiple use of reservoirs

This synthesis work aims at identifying the potential of reservoirs (such as natural and artificial lakes, storage dams and other reservoirs) to mitigate future drought situations both at the national (Swiss) scale, but also for specific case study areas.

HYDRO-CH2018 "Forhycs-Ice"

In the project FORHYCS-ICE, ("Forest, Glacier and Hydrology Change in Switzerland"), we aim at providing the first holistic simulations of climate impacts (CH2018 scenarios) on water resources, glaciers and forests.

CRAMPON - Cryospheric Monitoring and Prediction Online

How much are Swiss glaciers melting right now? In the CRAMPON project we develop an operational modeling tool to nowcast and predict mass balance and runoff of all Swiss glaciers.

Exploring the Hydropower potential of future ice-free basins on a global scale

In this project we analyze new landscapes which are emerging though glacier retreat, and identify locations which may be suitable for potential new water storages and hydropower production once glaciers have retreated.

CTI-Flexstore

Understanding the role of rock and debris-covered glaciers in the hydrological system of the Chilean Andes

The Andean cryosphere is an important water resource for downstream populations and is in steep decline as a result of recent climatic change. This project aims to improve our understanding of the quantity and seasonality of the contributions of rock and debris-covered glaciers to the hydrological s

EXAR

The main goal of the EXAR project is to create a consistent data set in order to assess the hazard for riparian infrastructure caused by extreme flood events on the rivers Aare and Rhine.

WOODFLOW

Wood in rivers fulfills important ecological functions. However, in case of flood events large wood may become a considerable source of danger. The aim of the research program WoodFlow is to better understand large wood dynamics in order to minimize associated risks.

MicroVegSnow

With a view to improving climate and weather forecasts as well as disaster prevention, ESA determines the water content in upper soil layers worldwide. A research project carried out in the Swiss Alps will now investigate how these satellites could be used to measure data about snow as well as frost in the soil.

Insights into streamflow generation mechanisms

To study streamflow generation mechanisms in steep mountainous catchments, we installed a «lab in the field» for monitoring stable water isotopes and water quality in streamflow and precipitation at 30-min resolution.

The potential of UAV photogrammetry for hydro-glaciological forecasts

This study investigates (a) the impact of weather forecasts on the resulting runoff predictions and (b) the potential of the UAV photogrammetry to generate high-resolution digital elevation models, ice flow velocities, and snow heights.

Decadal forecasts

The project assesses how decadal predictions can be used for middle-term forecasts in the hydro-glaciological context. The aim is to support achieving the goals defined in the Swiss EnergyStrategy2050.

Prediction of hydrological drought

SREP-drought will evaluate how summer low flows and droughts are affected by winter snowpack in three catchments (Prealps, central Switzerland; Jizera Mountains, northern Czech Republic; Little Caucasus, central Georgia).

Ensemble predictions

The project HEPS4Power explores the use of extended-range hydrological ensemble predictions systems (HEPS) for improving the operations and revenues of hydropower systems.

Mapping debris-covered glaciers and their features and characteristics

Supraglacial debris considerably alters the response of glaciers to changes in climate, yet debris-covered glaciers are notoriously difficult to delineate due to their fuzzy boundaries and spectral similarities to marginal moraines. Their surfaces are often characterized by supraglacial ponds and ex

Remote measurement of flood runoff

To investigate flood peaks and volumes in torrents, a method is being developed which allows remote triggering of the discharge measurement. Images of the precipitation radar are used to determine the time of measurement.

Process-based runoff generation approach for hydrological models

In collaboration with Scherrer AG and GmbH Soilcom a new runoff module is generated for hydrological models. Spatially distributed process information from so-called runoff process maps, which are based on field recordings and geographical bases, will be integrated into the module.

Rain-on-Snow

Rainfall on existing snowcover frequently occurs in spring. In this project we attempt to identify processes and conditions that determine how snow cover influences runoff formation during a rain-on-snow event.

Rockfall nets

Thanks to a new SLF computer model, industry will be able to design rockfall nets more cost-effectively and efficiently in future.

Soils and water regime of Swiss forests

For the whole forest area of Switzerland, we will map soil properties that are relevant for the water regime of forest stands. Based on this data we will run a water balance model for the 6000 plots of the National Forest Inventory (NFI) from 1980 to 2100 in order to detect regions that likely will suffer under increased drought in the near future.

Shallow landslides DB

Thunderstorms frequently trigger many shallow landslides and hillslope debris flows. The aim of this project in collaboration with the Federal Office of Environment FOEN is the buildup of a comprehensive data base of all well documented landslides.

Ground-penetrating radar

For purposes of forecasting floods and obtaining an overview of hydropower utilisation, it is important to know how much water is produced when the snowpack melts. A new ground-penetrating radar system is now available for efficiently and accurately measuring this so-called snow water equivalent.

DROUGHT CH

Droughts and heat waves are expected to become more frequent in Switzerland due to climate change. Droughts have major impacts on water resources, public health, ecosystems and consequently the economy. However, information about relevant economic and societal impacts and knowledge about adequate coping strategies are still lacking.

IFKIS Hydro Sihl

WSL develops and operates a probabilistic flood forecasting system for the pre-alpine catchment of the river Sihl. Floods can be detected early through a series of daily performed predictions.

CCES-TRAMM Project

TRAMM was a research project of the ETH Competence Centre of Environment and Sustainability (CCES) from 2006 to 2015 with the aim to better understand mechanisms of rapid mass movements.