Excursions Saturday
Please consult your conference documents for updated schedules and meeting points.
ExSat1: Schynige Platte: Botanical Alpine Garden and long-term ecosystem experiment
This excursion has been cancelled due to the low number of registrations.
The excursion starts with a spectacular ride in a nostalgic ‘Belle Epoque’ cog train to Schynige Platte (1970 masl). We take a guided tour through the Botanical Alpine Garden, which has more than 650 plant species native to the Swiss Alps. This site of research and nature conservation includes a unique long-term ecological experiment, the second oldest of its kind in the world, which started in the 1930s. Dr. Lüdi was interested in the impact of different management practices (fertilization, mowing, tilling, seeding etc.) on a mat-grass pasture and set up 340 experimental plots with different treatments. Some of the effects of these treatments on biodiversity are still visible in the long-term memory of the vegetation, 85 years after the treatment. An easy walk (100 m uphill) brings us to a crest with a spectacular panoramic view.
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ExSat2: High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch (3450 masl)
The excursion starts with a spectacular train ride through a world of tunnels, glaciers and high mountains, and brings us up to the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch and the Sphinx Observatory at 3450 masl. A tour through the research laboratories will feature measuring systems to observe the atmosphere (CO2, O2 and about 100 other gases, clouds and aerosols etc.), to monitor air quality, sources of pollutants and climate change, and to investigate snow and ice. Time will allow for a walk through the touristic attraction ‘Alpine Sensation’.
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ExSat3: Grimsel area: Rock laboratory for nuclear waste disposal / geothermal research
This excursion has been cancelled due to the low number of registrations.
The excursion starts with a bus ride along the shores of Lake Brienz and leads through the beautiful U-shaped Hasli valley up to Grimsel Pass, a world of water, glaciers and rocks. The Grimsel area (Aar massif) contains the highest hydrothermally active field in the Alps. During this one-day field trip, we will provide insights into the evolution of this hydrothermal system and its significance for geothermal exploration projects in Switzerland. Surface outcrops will be visited to demonstrate the link between tectonic preconditioning and geomorphologic processes shaping today’s spectacular landscape. The second part of the trip will include a visit to the Nagra Grimsel Test Site (underground laboratory), where experiments related to nuclear waste disposal programs in crystalline rocks will be presented.
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ExSat4: Holocene climate change and vegetation dynamics in the Swiss Alps
This excursion has been cancelled due to the low number of registrations.
The excursion reviews Holocene climate and vegetation changes in the NW Alps as documented by glacier fluctuations and lacustrine pollen and macrofossil records. This regional climate history is placed into the context of European-North Atlantic cold events between the Younger Dryas and the Little Ice Age. Typical vegetation belts (Montane to Alpine) can be seen along an altitudinal transect. The extent to which human activities have modified the vegetation and landscape since the Neolithic (after 7500 BP) and how Alpine meadows are established will be discussed. The scenic hike leads to the Faulhorn (2600 masl), which offers a spectacular panorama of the Alps to the south and the Jura Mountains to the north.
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ExSat5: Lower Grindelwald Glacier - Holocene climate change and environments
The excursion reviews Holocene glacier changes and brings us to the Lower Grindelwald Glacier, a valley glacier 8.2 km long and covering 17.8 km2, situated within the UNESCO World Heritage site “Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch”. Thanks to the good accessibility of the low ice front during the Little Ice Age LIA, the Lower Grindelwald Glacier is the best-documented Swiss valley glacier. A wealth of high quality depictions by top artists (e.g. Caspar Wolf and Samuel Birmann) over the centuries has allowed for the reconstruction of the LIA glacier fluctuations in a uniquely precise way. A longer reconstruction of glacial history (3,000 years!) was made possible by the discovery of fossil trees from the lateral moraines. Since the end of the LIA, the glaciers in the Grindelwald valley have been retreating (50% volume loss), with a dramatic increase in the rate of ice loss in recent years. Model simulations indicate a complete disintegration of the glacier by the end of the 21st century. The excursion also discusses recent changes in the landscape, namely the disintegration of the former ice tongue into a chaotic mass of moraines, ice dams and dead ice, leading to the formation of potentially high-risk glacier lakes. For example, a big rockslide occurred below the Eiger east face in 2005. Today, the lateral moraine has partly collapsed and erosion and debris-flow processes continue.
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ExSat6: Alpine geo-ecology and Holocene landscape evolution Schynige Platte - Faulhorn
This 5-6 hr mountain hike takes us across alpine meadows and spectacular karst fields via a panoramic mountain trail. The excursion will introduce the general tectonic and geologic setting of the NW Alps and discuss typical regional geo-ecological features (climate, vegetation and soils etc.). Sediment records from Lake Sägistal and Lake Bachalp provide insight into Holocene climate variability, vegetation changes and human landscape modifications since the Bronze Age (Late Holocene). Faulhorn has one of the greatest views, with the snowy Alps to the south and the Jura Mountains to the north. We will also experience the ‘Belle Epoque’ via a spectacular ride on the nostalgic cog train from Wilderswil up to Schynige Platte.
Please find more details in your conference documents.
ExSat7: Grimsel – Aletsch: Alpine hydrology, water resources and adaptation under climate change
This excursion has been cancelled due to the low number of registrations.
Grimsel and Alesch areas, a high alpine world of glaciers and water and home of the Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn UNESCO World heritage site. We continue through the Valais, a dry inner alpine valley, and return through the historic Lötschberg tunnel. Topics of the excursion include different aspects of alpine hydrology under climate change, natural and managed discharge, the importance of snow and ice, water reservoirs and hydropower production. Impacts of climate change on the cryosphere and water resources will be discussed, as will possible adaptation strategies.
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ExSat8: Open-Air Museum Ballenberg: Rural life and cultural heritage in Switzerland
This excursion has been cancelled due to the low number of registrations.
Experience Switzerland the way it used to be! The Ballenberg Open-Air Museum, which was opened in 1978, provides insight into the history of Switzerland. Approximately 90 traditional buildings relocated from sites around Switzerland are exhibited in 66 hectares of varied terrain. Visitors will see how the rural population of Switzerland used to live and work. Demonstrations of around 25 traditional handicrafts and trades, as well as the 250 farmyard animals, bring the museum to life and make it a real experience. The journey by coach from Interlaken to the museum and back is along the beautiful Lake Brienz and passes through the town of Brienz itself, which is famous for its woodcarvings.
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ExSat9: Frutigen - Tropical gardens, first Alpine sturgeon and caviar production
This excursion has been cancelled due to the low number of registrations.
The story of how sturgeon and tropical gardens came to the Alps begins with Switzerland’s traffic and transportation policy (Framework Convention for the Protection of the Alps). This policy mandated the movement of lorry traffic across the Alps on railroads. In 2007, one of the key railway tunnels for transporting lorries through the Alps, the Lötschberg Base tunnel, was inaugurated. The warm water issuing from this deep mountain tunnel is used to heat the glasshouses and fishponds of the Tropenhaus, which is is located in the middle of the Bernese Oberland mountains. Experience at close hand how we use warm water from Lötschberg mountain to grow tropical fruit and produce genuine sturgeon's caviar, one of the most exclusive delicacies in the world! In the Tropenhaus restaurant, you can enjoy a cuisine that is enriched with the intense flavors of our fishponds and tropical gardens.
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