Dr Jakob Rom presents: Alpine debris flows in a changing climate: A case study from the Horlachtal catchment (Austria)

Please register for the online zoom event here.

Debris flows occur as a natural hazard in all mountainous regions of the world and play an important role in the sediment budget of high alpine areas. Understanding the evolution of the frequency and magnitude of debris flows under a changing climate is therefore of great importance for risk management. To get an idea of how climate change affects debris flow activity, long and complete debris flow records are needed. However, especially for remote alpine catchments, such records are scarce. In this seminar I will show the process of establishing a slope-type debris flow record in the Horlachtal catchment in Tyrol (Austria) since the end of the Little Ice Age at around 1850. Remote sensing data like aerial images are used in combination with a lichenometric dating approach to date old debris flow deposits. In addition, the evaluation of a high-intensity precipitation event in July 2022, which triggered 156 debris flows in the Horlachtal catchment, will provide insights into the dynamics and characteristics of slope-type debris flows.

The work presented is related to the international and interdisciplinary research group SEHAG (SEnsitivity of High Alpine Geosystems to climate change since c. 1850).