Sub-surface processes and heat fluxes at coarse-blocky Murtèl rock glacier (Engadine, eastern Swiss Alps)

Abstract

Abstract. We estimate the sub-surface energy budget and heat fluxes in the coarse-blocky active layer (AL) of the Murtèl rock glacier, a seasonally snow-covered permafrost landform located in the eastern Swiss Alps. In the highly permeable AL, conductive/diffusive heat transfer including thermal radiation, non-conductive heat transfer by air circulation (convection), and heat storage changes from seasonal accretion and melting of ground ice shape the ground thermal regime. We quantify individual heat fluxes based on a novel in-situ sensor array in the AL and direct observations of the ground ice melt in the years 2020–2022. Two thaw-season mechanisms render Murtèl rock glacier comparatively climate-resilient. First, the AL intercepts ~70 % (55–85 MJ m⁻²) of the thaw-season ground heat flux by melting ground ice that runs off as meltwater, ~20 % (10–20 MJ m⁻²) is spent on heating the blocks, and only ~10 % (7–13 MJ m⁻²) is transferred into the permafrost body beneath and causes slow permafrost degradation. Second, the effective thermal conductivity in the ventilated AL increases from 1.2 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ under strongly stable temperature gradients to episodically over 10 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ under unstable temperature gradients, favouring convective cooling by buoyancy-driven Rayleigh ventilation (thermal semiconductor effect). In winter, radiatively cooled air infiltrating through a discontinuous, semi-closed snowcover leads to strong AL cooling. The two characteristic parameters (effective thermal conductivity and intrinsic permeability) are sensitive to debris texture, hence these convective undercooling processes are specific to highly permeable coarse-blocky material.