Articles | Volume 14, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-601-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-601-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
05 Aug 2026
Research article |
| 05 Aug 2026
| 05 Aug 2026
How ice apron loss and permafrost degradation promoted the Platteikogel rock slope failure: a thermo-mechanical reconstruction
Landslide Research Group, TUM School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
Samuel Weber
WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, SLF, Davos Dorf, Switzerland
Climate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Center CERC, Davos Dorf, Switzerland
Natalie Barbosa
Landslide Research Group, TUM School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Earth Sciences, GeoBio Center, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
Florentin Hofmeister
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Geodesy and Glaciology, Alfons-Goppel Str. 11, 80539 Munich, Germany
Johannes Leinauer
Landslide Research Group, TUM School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
Peter Wegmann
Department of Computer Science, TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
Michael Krautblatter
Landslide Research Group, TUM School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
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Philipp Mamot, Samuel Weber, Saskia Eppinger, and Michael Krautblatter
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Doris Hermle, Markus Keuschnig, Ingo Hartmeyer, Robert Delleske, and Michael Krautblatter
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2753–2772, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2753-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2753-2021, 2021
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Short summary
The 2024 Platteikogel rock slope failure (Tyrol, Austria) highlights how cryospheric changes promote slope failure. We demonstrate how the system feedback of ice apron loss, permafrost warming, increase in rockfall activity, and changes in groundwater conditions accelerate mechanical destabilization, and as a consequence likely peaked in the observed failure. Today, rapidly vanishing ice aprons potentially mark source zones for future rock slides.
The 2024 Platteikogel rock slope failure (Tyrol, Austria) highlights how cryospheric changes...
