Data for: Changes in sediment connectivity following glacial debuttressing in an Alpine valley system
Description
Dataset containing historical data concerning the evolution of Little Ice Age lateral moraine in the Otemma Valley (VS, Switzerland) during the debuttressing phase since mid-1960s. Our aim was to study how the morphological and hydrological sediment connectivity of the lateral moraine responded to the progressive glacier retreat. The dataset is composed by two type of data: 1. DEMs generated using SfM photogrammetry starting from aerial imagery. These data were used to detect both morphological changes and hydrological sediment connectivity evolution during the debuttressing phase. We conclude that gullying, activated by the glacier thinning which act as hydrological base level, in the main geomorphological process determining the hydrological sediment connectivity between the lateral moraine and the proglacial plain. 2. Historical climatic data (MAAT, glacier length and accumulated snow hight during winters) since 1960 to understand how these parameters impacted the behavior of the Glacier d'Otemma over time. As the glacier d'Otemma, unlike other Alpine glacier, showed a continuous retreat since the end of the Little Ice Age we found that the morphology of the valley (very long distance between the accumulation and the ablation zone due to the low slope of the bottom) played a most important role compared to the climatic parameters.