Mountain Changes
Cold Mountains
My scientific research and consulting activity relates to the characteristics and evolution over time of cold mountains with snow and ice.
Natural Hazard
Climate-induced changes in complex interconnected cold-mountain systems cause hazards and risks for humans and their infrastructure to change beyond historical precedence.
Climate Change Impacts
Snow and ice of cold mountains are especially sensitive to global warming; corresponding landscapes and habitats undergo rapid and largely irreversible changes.
Public Communication
Scientific outreach to authorities and the population is an important tool to increase public awareness about ongoing changes with their consequences for our living conditions.
Paleoglaciology
Investigating and quantitatively reconstructing glacier and permafrost conditions during past colder times such as the last Ice Age or the colder past centuries – the so-called Little Ice Age – helps with understanding complex system changes, for instance, in view of the long-term security of radioactive waste repositories assessments.
Glacier and Permafrost Monitoring
Systematic monitoring of glaciers and permafrost in cold mountains using advanced technologies is an important part of global climate observation; it provides the basis for future-oriented hazard and risk assessments.