Validation of simulated temperature profiles at rock walls in the eastern alps (Dachstein)

Abstract

While rock temperature is a key factor for many geomorphic phenomena in high mountains, assessing the small-scale temperature distribution remains challenging. We adapted the program package WUFI ® , originally designed to calculate energy and moisture fluxes in building walls, for modeling natural rock faces. We determined physical rock properties and local meteorological parameters as input data for the simulations at rock walls in the Dachstein Mountains, Austria, and calculated annual temperature fluctuations at the surface and at 3, 10, 30, 50 and 100 cm depth, including different elevations, aspects and slope angles. Thirty-seven temperature sensors inserted into drillholes of different depths at ten locations (altitudes from 2300 to 2700 m) were used to validate the simulation. Additionally, surface temperatures were determined from infrared images; these were calibrated for surface emissivity using further temperature sensors. ). However, the transferability of this approach to natural settings by means of temperature sensor data has not yet been validated.

Climate change and rapid ice melt: Suggestions from abrupt permafrost degradation and ice melting in an alpine ice cave

“…Considering a thermal conductivity ranging between 2.88 and 4.4 Wm –1 K –1 (Guglielmin et al, 2018; Schnepfleitner et al, 2017), a heat flow of around 0.06Wm –2 (Della Vedova et al, 1995) and equation (2) derived from the theory of heat conduction in solids (Carlsaw and Jaeger, 1959),…”

Rock temperature variability in high-altitude rockfall-prone areas

“…This means that, even with all the limitations/exceptions of the case, estimating the temperature of the rock on the basis of the air temperature alone can lead to a significant underestimation of rock temperature, and therefore to an incorrect interpretation of the mechanisms associated with geomorphological dynamics/slope instability. This could explain, e.g., rockfalls occurred at high altitudes in Winter, when air temperature is well below 0 °C, difficult to interpret if only air temperature is considered (Schnepfleitner et al 2018). It is evident that solar radiation is critical in this regard, both in terms of cloudiness/seasonality, and with regard to slope and aspect of rock masses, as other authors mentioned above have also reported.…”