GLORI

Durata: 01/01/2019 a 31/12/2021
Website: https://rbg.groups.unibz.it/projects/

Descrizione

Climate change is transforming the Alpine environments. Glaciers are retreating and permafrost is melting. This increases the number of sediments potentially supplied to mountain rivers. The Sulden/Solda River is a perfect example. Its glaciers annually lose about 840000 m3 of ice.

In the next decades, the parallel increased amount of supplied sediments will likely raise riverbed elevations leading to augmented flood risk for the population living near watercourses. unibz-Researchers monitor and model the transport of sediments resulting from the melting of the glaciers in the Sulden, Trafoi and Matsch/Mazia valleys. 

This project studies GLaciers-tO-RIvers sediment transfer in Alpine basins, particularly two glacierized basins of South Tyrol, located within the Etsch/Adige River basin. The project is carried out by a multidisciplinary project team that monitor glacial dynamics, hydrology, sediment transport and bed changes in Sulden and Saldur River. These survey activities will be accompanied by physical and numerical modelling to investigate sediment input routing and deformations of the downstream main channel in response to different morphological controls (e.g. valley width, slope).

The GLORI-Project is coordinated by the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and the other partners are:
• Institute of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences, University of Innsbruck (IMG-UIBK).
• Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck (IGI-UIBK)
• Dept. Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento (UNITN).

Video - The GLORI Project