8 October 2026/5 min read
Acceleration, not velocity: the signal that matters
Alpine slopes move all the time. The warning sign is not how fast a slope moves but when it starts moving differently.
- InSAR
- Brienz
- Methods
Articles
Notes on alpine hazards and satellite radar.
What the satellites saw, what the ground showed, and where a screening layer fits. Written by the founder, with sources.
8 October 2026/5 min read
Brienz: 62 weeks away from home and what monitoring costs
Brienz spent 62 weeks without its residents and runs a CHF 3.5 million monitoring programme. Why regions need a screening layer before site monitoring.
- Brienz
- Kandersteg
- Economics
8 October 2026/5 min read
L-band arrives: what NISAR changes for alpine monitoring
Free, calibrated L-band radar from NISAR has been public since July 2026. For snowy, rough and fast-moving alpine slopes, it is the missing wavelength.
- NISAR
- L-band
- Sentinel-1
8 October 2026/5 min read
The signs were there: the Nepal-China glacier collapse of August 2026
A Himalayan glacier collapse in August 2026 showed satellite warning signs nobody acted on. The physics is the same in every range; the monitoring is not.
- Himalaya
- Glaciers
- Expansion
8 October 2026/5 min read
Triage, not alarm: where satellites fit in the Swiss hazard workflow
Switzerland already has a layered system for slope hazards. Satellite screening belongs at the front of it, as decision support for experts, not as a siren.
- Triage
- Switzerland
- Workflow
8 October 2026/5 min read
What the Birch Glacier told satellites nine months before Blatten
L-band radar saw the Kleines Nesthorn accelerating from 2016. The signal was there; the system to read it across every slope was not.
- Blatten
- InSAR
- L-band
8 October 2026/5 min read
Why Switzerland is a blank spot on Europe's ground-motion map
The European Ground Motion Service stops at the Swiss border, and C-band radar goes quiet on snow and ice. What that means for alpine slopes.
- InSAR
- EGMS
- Switzerland