Satellite-based hazard assessment of rock glacier lakes: examples from the European Alps

The study is about developing and applying a remote-sensing workflow based on multispectral Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope satellite imagery to detect and monitor lakes forming on active rock glaciers in the European Alps. By analyzing five case studies, the research investigates how the formation and evolution of these lakes reflect permafrost degradation and contribute to slope instability and hydrological hazards, with the goal of supporting early hazard detection and monitoring.

The findings show that satellite-based monitoring can effectively identify and track the development of rock glacier lakes, revealing different patterns of lake evolution and highlighting potentially hazardous configurations that may precede debris flows or outburst floods. While the approach demonstrates strong operational potential for early warning applications, the results also emphasize important limitations related to terrain shading, sensor inconsistencies, shallow lake geometries, and spatial resolution, indicating that expert-guided interpretation remains essential for reliable hazard assessment.