Concept
Montane ecosystems
Related people (24)
Alexandre Buttler
I am a honorary professor at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale, Lausanne - EPFL. Up to 2019, I was a joint-professor between EPFL (Head of the laboratory of Ecological Systems - ECOS) and the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL for Forest, Snow and Landscape (Head of the research group Pasture Woodlands and Wetlands) and head of the Site WSL-Lausanne. I was also professor at the laboratory of Chrono-Environnement (UMR CNRS 6249) of the University of Franche-Comté, Besançon (France). I am author or co-author of over 160 papers in international ISI cited peer-reviewed journals.
Konstantin Svetlozarov Gavazov
2018 - to present: WSL, Switzerland; SNSF Ambizione research associate 2015 - 2017: CIRC Abisko, Umeå University, Sweden; Postdoc in permafrost ecology and climate change 2014 - 2015: WSL, Switzerland; Postdoc in peatlands ecology and biogeochemistry 2009 - 2013: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland; PhD in Ecology. 2006 - 2009: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands; MSc in Ecology 2002 - 2005: Jacobs University Bremen, Germany; BSc in Biological Sciences.
Rita Bütler Sauvain
Functions
Since 2005: Scientific collaborator,
WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research)
19972005: Scientific collaborator, EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne), Laboratory of Ecosystem Management
1996: Biologist,
SFFN (Service des forêts, de la faune et de la nature du canton de Vaud)
, Lausanne
1991-1992: Lecturer and project leader,
VŜST Technical University
, Liberec, Czechia
1989-1991: Teacher for natural sciences,
KKSS (Kath. Kantonssekundarschule)
,
KSBG (Kantonsschule am Burggraben)
, St. Gallen and
NTB (Interstaatliche Hochschule für Technik)
, Buchs
Education
2003: Ph.D. degree EPFL,
Dead wood in managed forests: how much and how much is enough? Development of a snag-quantification method by remote sensing and GIS and snag targets based on Three-toed woodpeckers' habitat requirements.
2003:
Hintermann&Weber research award
1995: Master degree in Environmental Sciences, EPFL
1989: Diploma for teaching of natural sciences - mathematics,
PHSG (Pädagogische Hochschule)
, St. Gallen
1984: Baccalaureate Latin, St. Gallen. Award for best matura.
Johan Alexandre Philippe Gaume
I started my scientific career in 2008 at the Grenoble University in the IRSTEA laboratory where I did my master's thesis on the rheology of dense granular materials using the discrete element method. In the same lab, I followed with a PhD on the numerical modeling of the release depth of extreme avalanches using a combined mechanical-statistical approach and spatial extreme statistics. In 2013 I obtained a postdoc position at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Davos where I was in charge of developing and applying numerical models to improve the evaluation of avalanche release conditions and thus avalanche forecasting. While my PhD was mostly theoretical and numerical, my postdoc in Davos allowed me to gain a practical expertise by participating in laboratory and field experiments which helped to validate the models I develop. In 2016, I was awarded a SNF grant to work as a research and teaching associate in CRYOS at EPFL on the multiscale modeling of snow and avalanche processes. I developed discrete approaches to model snow micro-structure deformation and failure in order to evaluate constitutive snow models to be used at a larger scale in continuum models. I also developed numerical models for wind-driven snow transport. In 2017, I was a Visiting Scholar at UCLA to work on a Material Point Method (MPM) to simulate both the initiation and propagation of snow avalanches in a unified manner. The UCLA MPM model was initially developed for the Disney movie "Frozen" and has been modified and enriched based on Critical State Soil Mechanics to model the release and flow of slab avalanches. The results of this collaboration have been published in Nature Communications. In 2018, I was awarded the SNF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship and became professor at EPFL and head of SLAB, the Snow and Avalanche Simulation Laboratory. At SLAB, we study micro-mechanical failure and fracture propagation of porous brittle solids, with applications in snow slab avalanche release. We also simulate avalanche dynamics and flow regime transitions over complex 3D terrain through the development of new models (depth-resolved and depth-averaged) based on MPM.In 2020, I obtained a SPARK grant to develop a new approach to simulate and better understand complex process chains in gravitational mass movements, including permafrost instabilities, rock, snow and ice avalanches and transitions to debris flows.