Open Session - SWISS GEOSCIENCE MEETINGs

18
Symposium 6: Apply! Snow, ice and Permafrost Science + Geomorphology
evolution of landscape. At the beginning of Holocene, the whole region should have been concerned by a paraglacial morphogenetic
crisis. An important glacial sedimentary stock should have been reworked by fluvio-glacial and fluvial processes,
while rockfalls and landslides should have been numerous. The fluvial rework of glacial sediments is at the origin of two
relict paraglacial alluvial fans outside of the Gaglianera (Figure 1) and Canal valleys. At the same time, the frost and gravity
action should have contributed to the talus slope formation. The rivers also shaped progressively their talwegs and the dissolution
of dolomite rocks shaped karstic landforms. The current sedimentation level is lower than it was at the beginnings
of Holocene and corresponds to the Piano della Greina, Plaun la Greina and Alpe di Motterascio alluvial plains. Concerning
glaciers, their Holocene evolution is not well known. Since 1850, they present a strong regression (Maisch 1992) and occupy
today a very small part of their glacial cirque (Fontana 2008).
Figure 1. The Gaglianera paraglacial alluvial fan (on the right), and the current alluvial fan (on the left).
REFERENCES
Fontana, G. 2008: Analyse et propositions de valorisation d’un paysage géomorphologique. Le cas de la Greina. Lausanne,
Institut de Géographie (Master thesis published on February 28, 2008, on http://doc.rero.ch).
Fontana, G., Scapozza, C., Reynard, E. 2008: Lateglacial glacier evolution of the Greina region, Proceedings of the 6th Swiss
Geoscience Meeting, this volume.
Maisch, M. 1992: Die Gletscher Graubündens, Zürich, Geographisches Institut.
Schoeneich, P., Reynard, E., Pierrehumbert, G. 1998: Geomorphological mapping in the Swiss Alps and Prealps, Wiener
Schriften zur Geographie und Kartographie, 11, 145-153.
6.10
Observation of the Cryosphere – Switzerland’s contri-bution to the
Global Climate Observing System GCOS
Foppa Nando*, Seiz Gabriela*, Walterspiel Julia*
*Swiss GCOS Office, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss Kraehbuehlstr. 58, CH-8044 Zurich, (Nando.Foppa@meteoswiss.ch),
www.gcos.ch
In recent decades – especially following the adoption of the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992
– the demand for observations of climate change and the closer links between climate observation and climate research/modeling
has steadily increased, leading to the establishment of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS).
GCOS is an initiative of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
(IOC) of the UNESCO, the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the International Council of Science (ICSU). GCOS is