摘要：High-mountain areas with glacier and permafrost
occurrence are temperature sensitive environments.
Climatic changes are, thus, likely to have an effect on
slope stability. Several recent events have shown that
rock and ice avalanches and related hazards can have
severe consequences. For hazard analysis, the processes
of slope failure and flow dynamics should therefore be
better understood. In this article, recent advances in
this field are presented, including high-resolution topographic
monitoring of a large Alpine high-mountain
flank (Monte Rosa) over the past 50 years and laboratory
experiments with rotating drums and numerical
modelling. This recent research has revealed important
insight into the causes and dynamics of slope
instabilities and contributes towards a better understanding
of the influence of ice on avalanche dynamics
and runout. It is emphasized that high-mountain slope
failures need to be viewed from an interdisciplinary
perspective, taking a number of process interactions
into account.
