Sven Fuchs

LS 26.101

Mountain hazard risk dynamics beyond climate change

Session includes ...

Mountain hazards: understanding key risk drivers beyond climate change
Navigating Land Use Competition and Systemic Risks in Mountain Regions
From Triggers to Impacts: Interpretable Impact-Based Hazard Modelling and Risk Dynamics in Mountain Regions

Session status: Accepted

Content last updated: 2026-04-16 00:06:26

Online available since: 2026-02-23 12:17:13

Details

Full Title
Mountain hazard risk dynamics: Land use, systemic interactions and impact-based approaches beyond climate change
Scheduled
TBA
TBA
Chair
Schlögl, Matthias
Co-chair(s)
Fontanella Pisa, Paola; Fuchs, Sven; Imgrüth, Dominik; Keiler, Margreth; Mayer, Andreas; Polderman, Annemarie; Posch, Eva; Schneiderbauer, Stefan; Steger, Stefan; and Lamprecht, Christian
Thematic Focus
Adaption, Modeling, Natural Hazards, Policy
Keywords
Mountain hazard risk, Adaptation, Exposure, Impact, Vulnerability

Abstract/Description

Mountain regions worldwide are experiencing rising losses from natural hazards. While climate change intensifies many hazard processes, shifting exposure, evolving land use, and changing vulnerability patterns are equally powerful – and often underexamined – drivers of risk. At the same time, competing land uses and socio-economic transformations are reshaping mountain socio-ecological systems, creating new constellations of systemic and cascading risks. This session brings together research that advances a comprehensive understanding of mountain risk dynamics by linking hazard processes, land use change, exposure and vulnerability evolution, and impact-based modelling approaches.

We invite interdisciplinary contributions that address one or more of the following themes:

Evolving exposure and vulnerability across spatial and temporal scales, including improved datasets, empirical validation, and integration of institutional and socio-economic dimensions.
Land use competition, trade-offs and conflicts (e.g., tourism, hydropower, agriculture, forestry, settlement expansion) and their role in generating, redistributing, or transforming natural hazard risk.
Systemic and cascading risks in mountain socio-ecological systems, including cross-sectoral and cross-scale interactions.
Impact-based and integrative modelling approaches, linking hydro-meteorological drivers, terrain and land cover, exposure, vulnerability, and runout dynamics to deliver spatially explicit risk assessments and scenario-based analyses.
Warning value chains and decision support, including threshold evaluation, uncertainty communication, true/false alarm trade-offs, and risk-oriented early warning.
Scenario tools and forward-looking approaches, such as SSP-aligned assessments, agent-based models, participatory methods, and nature-based solutions to support adaptive governance.
Empirical analyses of loss trends, disentangling the roles of climate change, exposure dynamics, land use decisions, and mitigation measures.

We particularly encourage contributions that bridge natural and social sciences, and that connect process understanding with decision-making and policy relevance. Comparative case studies from Alpine and other mountain regions are welcome. The session aims to foster dialogue between scientists, practitioners, and policymakers to support adaptive, impact-oriented risk management.

Registered Abstracts

ID: 3.129

Beyond surface displacement: Monitoring rotational surface deformation in mountain permafrost

Dominik Amschwand
Hurmer, Noah; Kirchmair, Lukas; Saibene, Giulio; Winiwarter, Lukas; Beutel, Jan

Abstract/Description

Observing the surface deformation in ice-rich mountain permafrost, particularly of rock glaciers as climate-sensitive landforms, opens a window to the subsurface thermal and mechanical processes. As climate warming accelerates permafrost degradation, research increasingly focuses not only on deformation rates but also on deformation modes, in order to improve process-based understanding of the kinematic response of rock glaciers to climate change. In this context, Rock Glacier Velocity (RGV) has recently been designated an Essential Climate Variable (ECV) parameter by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). However, existing approaches to measure RGV either rely on spatially extensive remote sensing, which captures translational motion and is ineffective during snow-covered periods, or on localised in-situ measurements that may lack spatial representativeness.

The InclinoNet project addresses this gap by building and deploying a distributed network of autonomous, wireless in-situ inclinometers to continuously monitor the rotational motion of surface blocks on the Äußeres Hochebenkar rock glacier (Ötztal Alps). Funded through an Early Stage Funding grant from the University of Innsbruck Vice-Rectorate for Research, the project captures rotational deformation of multiple blocks simultaneously, providing a novel observational perspective that complements established displacement-based measurements. The inclinometer data are validated using independent surface-displacement observations derived from terrestrial laser scanning and GNSS. Overall, InclinoNet will show how dense, ground-based sensing can enhance the detection and interpretation of deformation patterns associated with permafrost degradation, thereby strengthening the observational basis for RGV assessment, process understanding, and hazard evaluation. The technological insights gained may also support the development of future hazard monitoring and early-warning systems in high-mountain environments.

ID: 3.194

A new field index for structural sediment connectivity validation in alpine catchments: development and comparison with the Index of Connectivity (IC)

Felix Wörner
Schmutz, Daria; MSK, Ishmam; Keiler, Margreth

Abstract/Description

Alpine catchments are characterized by steep topography and high relief energy, favouring active sediment transfer and natural hazards such as debris flows. Sediment connectivity theories provide a promising framework for understanding geomorphological processes and dynamics, making structural sediment connectivity a key indicator for sediment flux patterns at the catchment scale. DEM‑based indices such as the Index of Connectivity (IC) are widely used to map sediment pathways, but their empirical validation against field‑based connectivity assessments remains has hardly been investigated to date, which represents a relevant research gap within sediment connectivity theories.

In this study, a new field index for structural sediment connectivity is developed to provide a rapid, simple, robust and reproducible method for mapping sediment connectivity patterns in alpine environments. The index is designed for application along transects within alpine catchments and captures key topographic and sedimentary features that control sediment transfer over steep slopes and channels. It is implemented in two alpine catchments in Tyrol, both characterized by similar land use and surface cover and documented to have experienced debris flows in recent years, providing a suitable setting to test the method under comparable morphological conditions.

The field index is compared with the IC calculated from a 2018 high‑resolution DEM using the SedInConnect Tool, with the aim of assessing whether the field‑based method can serve as a potential “ground truth” for remotely derived connectivity patterns. Results indicate broadly consistent spatial patterns in steep terrain, whereas the field index highlights local sediment traps and depositional features that are not always reflected in the IC. Overall, it confirmed the patterns identified by the IC, which represents a decisive step in the validation of such indices.

The study demonstrates that the proposed field index offers a practical, standardized and reproducible approach for assessing structural sediment connectivity at the catchment scale in alpine catchments. It provides a methodological basis for further validation and refinement of remote‑sensing‑based connectivity indicators and contributes to improving the empirical foundation of sediment connectivity and hazard assessments in mountain regions.

ID: 3.197

Wildfire vulnerability of buildings in Austrian mountain regions: a transferable multi-purpose assessment tool

Sven Fuchs
Echtler, Pia; Müller, Mortimer; Vacik, Harald; Papathoma-Köhle, Maria

Abstract/Description

Wildfires are an increasingly relevant hazard in Austrian mountain regions, particularly within the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), where settlements, tourism infrastructure, commercial activities, and forested landscapes intersect. While climate change influences fire regimes, rising wildfire risk in alpine areas is also strongly shaped by evolving exposure patterns and differentiated vulnerability of buildings and economic assets. Expanding tourism facilities, dispersed residential development, and infrastructure growth in hazard-prone terrain significantly alter local risk configurations.

This contribution presents a comprehensive and transferable assessment tool for analysing wildfire vulnerability across diverse building types in the Austrian mountain context. Moving beyond conventional building classifications, the tool integrates:

Structural characteristics (e.g., construction materials, roofs, façade elements, openings),
Functional dimensions (e.g., production processes, storage of combustible materials, visitor density, critical services), and
Environmental context (e.g., surrounding vegetation, ground cover, slope conditions, adjacent infrastructure).

Importantly, the approach differentiates between crown fires, surface fires, and spotting processes, allowing a more process-oriented understanding of fire-structure interactions in alpine terrain. By linking hazard characteristics with building-specific vulnerability factors, the tool provides an empirically grounded framework that supports spatial comparison and hotspot identification at local and municipal scales.

We demonstrate how land-use development, tourism expansion, and socio-economic change in mountain municipalities modify risk patterns independently of, and in interaction with, changing climatic conditions. Beyond methodological development, the project translates scientific assessment into practice through a handbook designed for municipalities and local stakeholders. The guidance supports indicator selection, data collection, interpretation, and integration into spatial planning, risk management, and prevention strategies. By strengthening the empirical basis of vulnerability assessment and improving documentation of exposure patterns, the approach contributes to more robust risk modelling and forward-looking wildfire management in mountain regions.

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LS 26.101

Mountain hazard risk dynamics beyond climate change

Session includes ...

Details

Full Title

Scheduled

Chair

Co-chair(s)

Thematic Focus

Keywords

Abstract/Description

Registered Abstracts

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

Submitted Abstracts

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