Glaciers are highly complex and surprisingly still poorly understood natural structures. The terminus of a glacier is usually very active, characterized by crevasses, seracs, and collapse phenomena that make these areas difficult to access and highly dangerous.
The Planpincieux Glacier, in the Grandes Jorasses massif along the Italian side of Mont Blanc, is a hanging glacier with its front situated at a steep break in slope. The location, the steep morphology of the front, and local instability makes it impossible to install monitoring systems and instruments on the glacier’s front. Monitoring of the Planpincieux Glacier by Ellegi srl began on September 26, 2019, with an emergency installation when abnormal movements were detected in the lower portion of the glacier. From that date until April 30, 2023, the GBInSAR LiSAmobile system continuously and permanently monitored the glacier, providing field movement information that affects the front and highlighting and tracking various collapse events. In this case, LISALAB activated various additional and specific services for alarms, data transfer, and analysis to meet the client’s needs.