Research interests

I am interested in the cryosphere with a particular focus on long-term permafrost change in mountain regions. I work on the development and implementation of climate-related scientific obser­vation strategies at both national and international scales to quantify and assess on­going changes, investigate the processes driving them, and extrapolate them across space and time. I also examine the consequences of permafrost degradation for mountain landscapes, ecosystems, natural hazards, or infrastructure. My preferred approach combines statistical analyses of field observations with model experiments of varying complexity.

Swiss Permafrost Monitoring Network

Long-term observations of permafrost are essential for detecting and quantifying its evolution and provide a critical bases for research, model validation, and anticipating the consequences of permafrost changes in high-mountain environments, including natural hazards, infrastructure vulnerability, and the impact of intense heat waves. The Swiss Permafrost Monitoring Network PERMOS coordinates systematic permafrost monitoring across the Swiss Alps and curates one of the most comprehensive long-term data set on mountain permafrost. PERMOS is carried by seven partner institutions from academia and financially supported by MeteoSwiss in the framework of GCOS Switzerland, the Federal Office for Environment, and the Swiss Academy of Sciences

Education

2008

PhD (Dr. sc. nat.) | Glaciology and Geomorphodynamics Group, Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich |  Prof. S. Gruber, Prof. W. Haeberli
Thesis: «Modeling transient 3-dimensional temperature fields in mountain permafrost»

2003Diploma (dipl. geogr.) | Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich | Subjects: geography, glaciology, computer science
Thesis: «GIS-basierte Modellierung von Felsstürzen über Gletscher»

Career stages

Since 2015Researcher & Head PERMOS, Permafrost Group, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF and Climate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards Research Center CERC, Davos Dorf | 50–80%
2013Invited scientist, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operation, Prince George, BC, Canada | Dr. M. Geertsema
2010Invited scientist, Laboratoire EDYTEM, Université de Savoie, Chambéry, France | Prof. P. Deline
2004–2015Senior researcher / postdoc / research assistant / PERMOS Office, Glaciology and Geomorphodynamics Group, Dept. of Geography, University of Zurich | Prof. W. Haeberli / Prof. A. Vieli (40–90%)
2001–2006Assistant, GEO Services Team, Cat Perils Group, Swiss Re, Zurich (20–30%)

Roles

2024–Editor, The Cryosphere
2015–Steering Committee of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost GTN-P, Co-Chair
2010–Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation (SCC-SCNAT, former EKK), Vice-Chair since 2023
2020–2024Global Cryosphere Watch task team for the compilation of measurement guidelines for permafrost observation (WMO #8)
2020–2023International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics: Swiss National Committee
2009–2018Swiss Snow, Ice and Permafrost Society SEP-NGP: board member

Projects

Publications