Progresses in the investigation of the relation between climate and slope instability processes at high-elevation

The ongoing debate about the effects of global warming in glacial and periglacial areas implies a lack of knowledge about the role of climate elements on the cryosphere dynamics. Slope instability processes are one of the major indicators of a changing climate at high elevation, but we know little about the relation between climate and slope instability processes. In this work, we briefly introduce our activities and developments on this issue. We collected more than 440 slope failures events at high-elevation sites in the Italian Alps from year 2000 on. By means of a statistical-based method, we detect the possible anomalies of the climate variables at the date when slope instability events occurred. Based on the preliminary outcomes of this work, we expect to be able to identify the variables which acted as potential triggers/drivers of slope instability processes in (peri)glacial and permafrost areas.