High-Resolution DEM Extraction from Terrestrial LIDAR Topometry and Surface

Kinematics of the Creeping Alpine Permafrost:

The Laurichard Rock Glacier Case Study (Southern French Alps)
Xavier Bodin, Philippe Schoeneich
University Paris Diderot (Paris 7)/Institute of Alpine Geography, Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, France
Stphane Jaillet
EDYTEM laboratory, University of Savoie, Le Bourget-du-Lac, France

Abstract
The most common landforms associated with the creep of Alpine permafrost are the rock glaciers, the morphology
of which reflects the complex processes of the internal deformation of the ice and debris mixture. In the present
study, a terrestrial LIDAR device was employed to scan, at a sub-decimeter resolution, the surface of the Laurichard
active rock glacier (Southern French Alps). Two points-clouds were generated at one-year interval (Sept. 2005 and
Sept. 2006) and processed in order to produce two high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) and to compare
them. Different methods were used in order to extract small-scale topography, quantify interannual surface changes,
and determine the kinematic behavior of the creeping mass. For a better understanding of rock glacier dynamics, the
results have also been compared to the geodetic measurements annually over a 20-year period, and to the geophysical
evidences of rock glacier internal structure.
Keywords: alpine permafrost; French Alps; high-resolution DEM; LIDAR; rock glacier morphology; surface kinematics.

Introduction
The long term, steady-state and slow deformation of icesupersaturated sediments, which generates specific landforms
called rock glaciers, is dependent on various parameters such
as the ice/debris mixture thickness, the local slope angle, the
ice and water content, or the depth of the basal shear zone
(Haeberli 1985, Barsch 1992, Arenson et al. 2002, Haeberli et
al. 2006). Recent investigations have also suggested that, at an
interannual scale, the main controlling factor of rock glacier
deformation rate may be the thermal state of the permafrost
body (Ikeda 2004, Roer et al. 2005, Kb et al. 2006).
Previous studies on rock glacier surface kinematics
have classically used remote-sensing techniques (Kb
et al. 1998, Kaufmann et al. 2005), which provide a good
spatial resolution but only on mid- to long-term trends of
the creeping activity, or geodetic surveys (Delaloye 2004,
Lambiel & Delaloye 2004, Kaufmann et al. 2006), which are
often carried out at an annual time-scale but with a limited
spatial resolution.
Recent development of the LIDAR (Light Detection And
Ranging) technique allows fast and accurate acquisition of
the topography with very high resolutions. Using terrestrial
devices, several millions of points may be acquired in one
day, and entire slopes (104 m2) and landforms may be
scanned. Therefore, it appears a promising tool to produce
high-resolution digital elevation models (HR-DEMs) that
have, until now, rarely been used to study surface changes
and related processes in the glacial (Bauer et al. 2003, Avian
& Bauer 2006) or periglacial geomorphology.
In this study, a medium-range terrestrial LIDAR was
employed during two successive years to scan the surface
of a rock glacier.

Figure 1. Location of the Laurichard rock glacier, in the Southern

French Alps.

The investigated landform is the Laurichard rock glacier

in the Southern French Alps (Fig. 1), which is a 500 m long,
tongue-shaped, active rock glacier. As it is surveyed since
1979 with annual geodetic measurements of 28 marked
blocks (Francou & Reynaud 1992), its mean surface
velocities are known to range from 0.2 m/yr at the root and
at the front to 1.2 m/yr in its steepest central part.
Beyond the necessity to test the applicability of the
terrestrial LIDAR on a very rough and complex terrain,
the main goals of this study were to perform multi-scale
morphometric measurements, to quantify the interannual
surface changes, and to determine the kinematic behavior of
the creeping mass.
137

138 Ninth International Conference on Permafrost

Acquiring High-Resolution DEM in an Alpine

Environment
Data acquisition
The device (Ilris-3D, Optech; wavelength: 1500 nm)
used in the present study is able to acquire 2500 points per
second, with a centimetre accuracy (8 mm at 100 m) and at a
maximal range of about 1000m. The limiting factors that can
reduce the LIDAR measurements quality are the presence of
non-reflective surfaces, such as snow, and the occurrence of
very humid or foggy atmospheric conditions.
The small-scale morphology of the rock glacier, composed
of extensive (longitudinal ridges) or compressive (transversal
convex ridges and furrows) flow structures, has made it
imperative to multiply the angles of view. Hence, during
the two field campaigns (September 2005 and September
2006) four stations and 14 to 17 scenes (between 1 and 4 per
station) were necessary each time to scan the whole surface
of the rock glacier and to minimise shadowed areas (Fig.
2). In addition, five fixed points, outside the rock glacier,
were measured with DGPS (Differential GPS), enabling a
centimeter precision for the georeferencing of each DEM.
With a mean resolution of 7 cm (it varies according to the
distance between the LIDAR and the target) two clouds of
1015 millions points were generated.
Data processing
The raw datasets, that consist in x, y, and z coordinates
(reflectance and colorimetric information have not been
used), have to undergo several processing steps before being
usable for further treatments. The PolyWorks ( InnovMet-

rics 2005) software, dedicated to the processing of 3D point

clouds, was hence used to:
1. align and adjust the scenes together, thanks to common
overlapping areas,
2. reduce the redundancy where a high density is not
necessary,
3. grid the data to obtain either a polygonal model or a
regularly spaced model,
4. georeference one polygonal model, thanks to using
the DGPS points by the manual recognition of the
blocks, and
5. align the two polygonal models on their common
stable parts.
Finally, three types of processed data are available for
further analysis: initial point clouds (17 in 2005, 14 in 2006,
plus the 2 final aligned ones); two polygonal models (one
per year); and two regularly-spaced models (one per year, at
resolution of 0.5 and 1 m).

The Use of High-Resolution DEM to Quantify

Rock Glacier Morphology and Surface
Kinematics
Morphometric analysis of the rock glacier
Because of the presence of snow on the upper part of the
rock glacier during the 2006 campaign, only the 2005 data
were used.
First, a detailed map of the main morphological features has
been established and verified in the field (Fig. 3). Interesting
elements, such as the limits of the different flowing units or
the variable roughness of the surface, can be extracted.
Second, the use of morphometric parameters has allowed
a fine quantitative description of the rock glacier topography.
Slope, microtopography (z) after Kb (2005), and
roughness (z) index were computed along the main flow
line by the following formulas:
n2

Pz n

z
n 2

n  25
n

Uz n

Figure 2. Position of the four stations (circles and numbers), of the

corresponding scanning windows (circle portions) and of the fives
fixed points (flag) used to scan the surface of the rock glacier (bold
line). Geographic coordinates and elevations are in meters.

n  25

51

(1)

n 10

zn 

n 10

21

(2)

This allows several parts with homogeneous morphometric

characteristics to be distinguished (Fig. 4):
a) the scree slope at the contact between the rock
wall (slope >37) is marked on its upper part by a
deep concavity, which actually corresponds with
the randkluft of the rock glacier (massive ice is
commonly observed);
b) the upper convex part of the central slope where
transversal microtopography is almost absent due to
high, extensive flow;

Bodin, Schoeneich, and Jaillet 139

Figure 4. Longitudinal profile of the rock glacier with computed

values of slope, microtopography, and roughness.

Figure 3. Morphological map of the rock glacier from the 2005 HRDEM. Coordinates are in meters and equidistance of the contour
lines is 2.5 m. Please note that, for aesthetic reasons, north as been
placed at the bottom.

c)

the lower concave part of the central slope, which

is characterized by a high roughness, related to the
presence of numerous large boulders and, at the
bottom, by transverse ridges and furrows;
d) the gently sloping tongue of the rock glacier shows
several ridges, and the roughness index suggests
smaller boulders.
As a rock glacier is commonly interpreted as a creeping
mixture of debris and ice (Haeberli 1985, Barsch 1992), it
may be assumed that those morphometric measurements
partly reflect the dynamics of the landforms.
Long-term deformation of the rock glacier
The digitizing of contour lines obtained through
photogrammetric restitution of 1975 aerial photos
(topographic map IGN 3436ET, 1:25000) has provided a
DEM (at a grid resolution of 10 m) of the rock glacier region.
The comparison between this 10 m DEM (which displays
quite poor accuracy of +/-5m) and the 2005 HR-DEM allows
us to roughly estimate the characteristics of the Laurichard
rock glacier flow (Fig. 5). It appears that the frontal zone has
advanced by about 11 m, displacing a volume of rock and
ice of approximately 50,000 m3 in 30 years. An interesting
feature is the clear inflexion of the flow towards its right, in
a local valley axis.

Interannual comparison of HR-DEM

Due to the coarse detritic cover of the rock glacier, made up
of decimeter to meter-sized boulders without fine material,
the surface roughness appears to be greater than the spatial
resolution of the HR-DEM. Furthermore, the variability of
the point density, from place to place and from one HRDEM to the other, may lead to an heterogeneous quality
of the reproduction of the surface by the models. Thus, as
a smoothing of the noisy blocky surfaces would have
induced an additional inaccuracy and would have limited
the detection of infra-meter surface movements, direct
comparisons were performed by two different means.
With the first method, the PolyWorks software computes
the distance between each cell of the 2005 polygonal
model and the closest cell of the 2006 polygonal models. A
directional constraint is set by a 3D vector which specifies
in which direction the comparisons have to be performed.
Thus, maps of directional differences can be computed for
various 3D vectors.
This method shows some of the main components of the
surface movement, such as the downstream progression of
the ridge that appears to be larger in the main flow axis of
the landform (Fig. 8). The larger movement on the right side
of the rock glacier seems also to be confirmed, and the fall of
blocks from the top of the front or the individual movements
of big boulders can be easily detected.
The second method consists in the use of topographic
profiles along which 2005 and 2006 surfaces are compared.
Vertical changes as well as horizontal differences can then
be computed.
Specific patterns of rock glacier movement can therefore
be visualized. The frontal advance is detected by the uprising
of the surface, which decreases toward the foot of the talus
(Fig. 6 A). Erosion by the fall of blocks from the upper part
of the front is also perceptible at some places by a lowering

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Figure 7. Surface changes between 2005 and 2006 on a longitudinal

profile showing the tongue of the rock glacier.

Figure 5. Vertical changes (in meters) between 2005 HR-DEM and

1975 DEM.

Figure 6. Vertical changes between 2005 and 2006 on a longitudinal

and a transversal profile.

of the surface at the top and a subsequent rising at the foot,

which corresponds to the deposit.
This method also permits to quantification of the
downstream progression of the ridges (from 0.20.6 m/yr on
the tongue) and the advance of the latero-frontal talus that
appears to range from 00.6 m/yr (Fig. 7).

Discussion on the Rock Glacier Dynamics and

Discussion
The rock glacier advance
The latero-frontal edges of the rock glacier were frequently
perpendicular to the line-of-sight of the LIDAR, and this has
locally improved the quality of the HR-DEM and facilitated
surface changes quantification on those specific sectors.

Figure 8. Vertical profiles showing the horizontal advance rate of the

latero-frontal edges of the rock glacier (see Fig. 3 for location).

Hence, measure of the horizontal movement of visible

boulders allows the drawing up ofvertical profiles of the
advance of the rock glacier edges (Fig. 8). Those show an
increase of the advance rate toward the top of the front, as
well as marked ruptures that are visible at different levels in
the profiles.
Although this kind of measurement has to be carefully
interpreted due to the roughness of the surface and to
individual boulder movements that may introduce noise
in the values, several remarks can be made concerning the
advance of the rock glacier.
First, the linear to parabolic shape of the vertical profiles
is similar to those observed by Kb & Reichmuth (2005)
on the front of two rock glaciers. For the Murtl case, they
found that its frontal part is affected by a downslope creep
of a surface layer (which acts as a conveyor belt) and a
thaw settlement that reveal an excess ice content of about
60%70%.
Second, the presence of a non-moving layer is observed
within the vertical profiles of the right side of the Laurichard
rock glacier. This may approximately correspond to the level
of the bedrock (as suggested by surrounding evidence) and
may be interpreted as evidence of the presence, immediately
above, of a shear zone (Arenson 2002) where a large part of
the total deformation occurs.

Bodin, Schoeneich, and Jaillet 141

Figure 9. Map of the directional difference (direction of comparison shown in the upper right corner) between 2005 and 2006 HR-DEM.
The inserts present some details of typical surface changes, such as the individual movements of boulders in the steep central part or the fall
of a block from the front. The downstream progression of the ridge is also clearly visible.

(indicated by the calculated slope compensated variation of

surface, data from 1986 to 2006) which accompanies the local
compression of the tongue has to be interpreted in different
ways. It may be a consequence of the global dynamics of
the rock glacier, as well as an impact of the thaw settlement
that would be associated to the global warming of the last
two decades.

Conclusion

Figure 10. Surface variations of the Laurichard rock glacier after

the long-term geodetic survey (mean 19862006 values).

Implications for the long-term geodetic survey

The annual measurements with the LIDAR device have
suggested that the flow of the rock glacier may partly turn
to its right, following a local valley axis. Between 1975 and
2005, the right side of the rock glacier advanced by about 14
m (+/-5 m) in that direction, and the corresponding 2005
2006 advance was around 0.3 m on the top of the laterofrontal talus.
Therefore it can be assumed that the surface changes
observed with the long-term geodetic survey along the main
axis of the rock glacier (Fig. 10) will reflect this specific
behavior.
As a consequence, the small mean lowering of the surface

The terrestrial LIDAR technique has been employed

to produce two high-resolution DEMs of the Laurichard
rock glacier in two successive years. The morphology of
the landform has been analyzed, thanks to mapping and to
morphometric parameters. The depicted flowing structures
clearly reveal the creep of the ice and debris mixture. This
has also been studied through interannual comparisons of the
HR-DEM, which allows general or detailed quantification
of the surface kinematics of the rock glacier. By comparing
with the results of a long-term geodetic survey, it appears
that more detailed studies, for example with a regular (every
5 years) survey of the rock glacier, are necessary to develop
models of the rock glacier dynamics.

Acknowledgments
This work has been possible thanks to collaboration
between the Institute of Alpine Geography (Grenoble, France)
and EDYTEM laboratory (Le-Bourget-du-Lac, France). The
authors are indebted to R. Delunel, J. M. Krysiecki, and

142 Ninth International Conference on Permafrost

A. Rabatel, as well as to the Chalet-Laboratoire of the
Lautaret Pass (S. Aubert, P. Choler) for their help during the
field campaigns. The unpublished data of the geodetic survey
of Laurichard have been made available by the courtesy of
L. Reynaud and E. Thibert.

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