For five days, the group stayed at the hut in the Großglockner region, close to the Glatzbach catchment – a unique long-term study site where periglacial processes have been monitored for over 20 years. As in most years, Prof. Schrott, his team, and students continued the geomorphological survey of local rock glaciers to track changes at the lower limit of permafrost.
To investigate these dynamics, the team combined geophysical techniques – such as electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and seismic refraction tomography (SRT) – with UAV-based remote sensing. While the geophysical surveys reveal subsurface contrasts between frozen and unfrozen layers, UAVs provide high-resolution digital elevation models to analyse surface displacement and glacier kinematics. Repeated measurements along fixed profiles, precisely georeferenced with Differential GPS, create a valuable long-term dataset on permafrost changes in the catchment.
For more details on the ongoing research in the Glatzbach catchment and its surroundings, see the 2023 article linked below.