Francisco Javier Bataller-Torre

The monitoring of rock glaciers is a current subject of interest because of its application as permafrost indicator and its sensitivity to climatic changes (especially temperature and precipitation). Alpine rock glaciers in the Pyrenees have been described by various authors, but to study them regionally has been a challenge since most of these studies are based on ground-based techniques. Two LiDAR campaigns (the first one completed in 2015 and the second one currently ongoing) performed by the Spanish Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), up to now mainly used for land management purposes, present the perfect opportunity to combine both datasets and asses the movement of this periglacial features. The present work aims to show how by analysing two sets of open-source LiDAR data (acquired in 2011 and 2016) and calculating elevation difference, the mapping of these features can be enhanced. The results will show how some recently proposed potentially active rock glaciers are showing vertical displacement and some others are not. Additionally, the displacement results of the Besiberri NW rock glacier are compared versus the results obtained by previous studies (1993-2003) by Chueca and Julian (2005) showing an increase on the vertical displacement of the central area interpreted as possible destabilization due to ice core ablation. To conclude, the climate monitoring implications, the limitations of the technique and further work to improve these results together with future applications are also discussed.