GEORESEARCH

Special thanks to the FROST.INI project team, especially to Gerald Valentin, and external supporters, including Franz Goldschmidt from the Amt der Kärntner Landesregierung, for their significant contributions to making this effort possible.

This work is part of the #Interreg VI-A project #FROST.INI, a cross-border initiative fostering cooperation between Austria and Italy. #ScienceAcrossBorders #cohesion #interregitaliaosterreich

Borehole temperature data from the Großglockner – only the third site for direct permafrost monitoring in Austria – will enhance our understanding of permafrost thaw, #rockfall activity, and #infrastructure stability in sensitive high-alpine environments.

With bedrock temperatures at -3.3 °C (north borehole) and -2.5 °C (south borehole) below 10 m depth, these values are among the lowest recorded across the Alps, comparable to sites like #Jungfraujoch (3,600 m a.s.l.) and #AiguilleduMidi (3,700 m a.s.l.).

These boreholes now mark the highest permafrost #monitoring site in the Eastern Alps.
On October 8, high-precision thermistor chains were installed to measure permafrost conditions in the underlying prasinite bedrock.

🔙 Flashback to a milestone in #permafrost research in the Eastern #Alps

From September 4–6, we supervised the drilling of two 20 m deep #boreholes just north and south of the Erzherzog-Johann-Hut (3,450 m a.s.l.), Austria’s highest alpine hut and a key base for #Großglockner ascents.

This publication marks the final output of the #STRATIFY project (2022–2024), carried out in collaboration with Lo.La Peak Solutions and funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency.❄️

from Robert Delleske, @markus-keuschnig.bsky.social, and Rolf-Ole Rydeng Jenssen (NORCE).

The paper, “Towards slope-scale assessment of avalanche formation: Exploring UAV-borne GPR for unveiling spatial snowpack variability”, was published in "Cold Regions Science and Technology", first-authored by @anna7brunner.bsky.social with contributions

Towards slope-scale assessment of avalanche formation: Exploring UAV-borne GPR for unveiling spatial snowpack variability This study explores the potential of unoccupied aerial vehicle- (UAV-) borne ground penetrating radar (GPR) for high-resolution, slope-scale snow dept…

Curious to dive deeper?

👉 Read the full open-access article here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🧩 And the best part? The system is built from off-the-shelf components, making it easy to access, deploy, and use — not only for researchers but also for practitioners.

Huge shoutout to SPH Engineering for the engineering precision and fantastic support! 🙌

📏 Our results show a strong correlation with reference measurements: GPR-derived snow depth closely matches probe data, confirming the method’s reliability.

🔍 Even better, UAV-borne GPR uncovers small-scale snow depth variability that conventional point measurements often miss.

Why it matters:

UAV-borne #GPR has the potential to significantly advance avalanche monitoring and forecasting by enabling detailed, safer, and more efficient slope-scale snowpack investigations — even in challenging terrain.

The study explores how ground-penetrating radar (GPR) combined with #UAV technology can be used to monitor the snowpack and reveal its spatial variability.

❄️ Snowy Publication Alert! ❄️
Winter has already arrived in the #Alps — and we couldn’t have asked for better timing for our latest snow-related paper to be published.

We’re proud to contribute to a deeper, data-driven understanding of our rapidly changing alpine environment.

Many thanks to Henri Wagner (Heise) for shining a light on our research!

The article also briefly features our #FROST.INI #Interreg project, where we study #permafrost degradation and assess slope stability in the Austrian–Italian Alps, helping to identify #hazards early and support infrastructure operators.

In the next phase, #MELT-AI will merge these measurements with historical data, #climate records, and future climate scenarios. With the help of advanced ML models, we aim to predict how glaciers will evolve—and when they may disappear completely.

GPR data processing directly in the field.

What previously required a full day on the glacier can now be covered in 20 minutes thanks to advanced #UAV technology. As Anna puts it: “You can already speak of a small revolution.”

UAV-borne GPR at Schlatenkees, Venedigergruppe, Austria

... our team is using a combination of drone-based #GPR, #photogrammetry, and #LiDAR to generate highly precise glacier models. For the first time, we can collect thousands of radar measurements across entire glaciers—a major leap forward for #cryosphere research.

The article highlights how our project #MELT-AI is improving the way researchers understand glacier #dynamics. As @anna7brunner.bsky.social , project lead at @georesearch.bsky.social , explains, ...

Tauwächter Die Gletscher in den Alpen sind als Teil der Kryosphäre ein essenzielles Element des Energiehaushalts der Erde. Derzeit kartieren Forschungsteams diese mithilfe von Drohnentechnik zentimetergenau. KI-...

How drones and AI are reshaping glacier research

We’re excited to see our work featured in the latest @ct.de article on the future of #glacier #monitoring:
🔗 www.heise.de/select/ct/20...

🎥 A short video provides impressions from the field – we thank our partners for their valuable support.

#UAS #BVLOS #ClimateResearch #DJI #Drones #DataCollection #AerialImaging #MountainResearch #AustroControl #Kitzsteinhorn #Sölden #SpektakulAIR #Skyzr

🛰️ Flights can be scheduled or triggered on demand, offering a new level of responsiveness in remote mountain environments. This achievement marks a significant step toward safe and scalable UAS operations in complex alpine terrain.

We are now operating three DJI Docks – located at Kitzsteinhorn and Sölden – enabling fully automated photogrammetric and thermal missions. These systems provide critical data for monitoring climate-driven surface changes, incl. glacier dynamics, snow cover variability, and sudden rockfall events.

📡 Autonomous UAS operations for climate impact research in high alpine regions

This autumn, GEORESEARCH received official BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) approval from Austro Control for operating unmanned aerial systems (UAS) from hangar-based systems in two high alpine regions.

We are proud to contribute this knowledge to future initiatives, building on the legacy of projects like #SedAlp.

Huge thanks to Hohe Tauern National Park for the long-standing collaboration in the Obersulzbachtal!

and anticipate future sediment availability — enabling resilient and efficient river and hazard management.

and thawing of isolated permafrost bodies (evidenced by “light” isotopic signatures in meltwater — a trace of older, colder climate conditions). High-resolution, long-term #monitoring like this is essential to understand sediment mobilization, validate debris-flow models,

This climate-change-induced trend is a growing #risk for #downstream #infrastructure, yet it's still often underestimated. Our latest ground-surface data from Sattelkar indicates rapid warming (+2 to +3 °C per decade!)