Glaciology

The business field "Glaciology" has its origins when Felix Keller, during his dissertation at the Experimental Station for Water, Hydrology and Glaciology of the ETH Zurich, was allowed to lead his own first consulting projects already in 1988. With the founding of ILUalpins - a branch office of ILU AG in Uster (Zürich) - and the subsequent founding of GEOalpins at the Academia Engiadina - today the Center for Applied Glaciology - a focus on subsoil consulting in permafrost, natural hazard analyses and lake ice investigations for the large sporting events on the forested Upper Engadine lakes followed. In 2015 the MortAlive project was born, which triggered an unpredictable development such as construction of Ice Stupas, cooperation with Ladakh and also the big Innosuisse project "Snow Rope".

All excursions are currently only carried out on individual request. If you are interested or have any questions you can here .

Ice Stupa construction

With the “Ice Stupa Artifical Ice Reservoir Technology” (AIR), unused water is stored in large ice towers in winter. The meltwater available in spring is then used for agricultural irrigation. The invention of the ice stupas is thanks to engineer Sonam Wangchuk from Ladakh. He developed the simple solution of forming cone-shaped ice mounds from the meltwater flowing off the glaciers.

Every year we build Ice Stupas in Switzerland, more precisely in the Engadin. Everyone can join in and help build the basic structure and prepare everything for the winter.

Glaciological advice for the safety of frozen lakes

1. Ice drilling with GIS recording
2.  Georadar measurements
3. Radar signal of a sea ice cover
4. Radar measurements on Lake St. Moritz
5. Forecast of ice growth based on meteorological data
6. Drone with thermal imaging camera
7. Combination of drone and radar measurements