Fibre Optic Cables Could Predict Glacier Collapses
24th July 2025
Research on natural disaster monitoring has stepped up after recent incidents in the Alps, including a huge landslide at Blatten in Switzerland at the end of May. After Blatten landslide…
Read more >
Research on natural disaster monitoring has stepped up after recent incidents in the Alps, including a huge landslide at Blatten in Switzerland at the end of May.
Satellite images, cameras and radar make it possible to track the evolution and movement of glaciers.
However, this technology provides limited information about what is going on inside the glaciers.
Researchers in Switzerland and in other mountainous areas think they have found a solution: fibre-optic cables that detect micro-vibrations and other early signs of instability in glaciers.
“Fiber optics allow us to detect extremely small seismic events, which other technologies could not measure. That could help refine glacier monitoring systems,” said Thomas Hudson, a seismologist at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich.
See here for full details on Swiss Info.
Saas-Fee glacier. Image © PlanetSKI
