Thawing permafrost decoded by breakthrough Swiss research

For the first time a research team in Switzerland has measured how much of the Alpine permafrost has thawed. Their technique helps scientists understand how climate change is affecting mountains’ permanently frozen ground and improves the prediction of landslides and rockfalls. Just after 9:30am on August 23, 2017, a huge landslide broke off from the face of Pizzo Cengalo, a mountain in the Alps on the Swiss-Italian border. More than three million cubic metres of rock material mixed with water collapsed towards the valley, killing eight people and submerging part of the Swiss village of Bondo in the valley below. The Bondo landslide was one of the largest in Switzerland in more than a century. Seven years later, the justice system is still evaluating to what extent the authorities should be held responsible for what happened to the victims. But it’s clear that a changing climate caused by human activities contributed to the catastrophe. Images of rapidly melting Swiss glaciers ...