An increasing number of studies highlight the controlling influence of water on rock glacier deformation velocities. The link between the concept of water‐driven shearing processes and numerous observations of correlating mean annual air or ground temperatures and rock glacier velocities is discussed here. We present a dataset measured at the Schafberg rock glacier in the Eastern Swiss Alps, complemented by temperature data from three other rock glaciers in the Swiss Alps, which allowed us to reconstruct the processes influencing both mean annual ground temperatures and rock glacier deformation velocity. Rock glacier hydrology is the parameter linking rock glacier temperature and velocities and is a crucial influencing factor. The main external forcing parameter appart from mean annual air temperature is early winter snow coverage. The study shows that the concept of water being a controlling factor for rock glacier velocity is no contradiction to the observed correlations between air or ground temperature and rock glacier deformation.

中文翻译：

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岩石冰川水文，变形速度和地面温度如何相互作用：瑞士阿尔卑斯山的例子

越来越多的研究突显出水对岩石冰川变形速度的控制影响。本文讨论了水力剪切过程的概念与将年平均气温或地面温度与岩石冰川速度相关联的大量观测结果之间的联系。我们提供了一个在瑞士阿尔卑斯山东部的沙夫贝格冰川测量的数据集，并补充了瑞士阿尔卑斯山其他三座冰川的温度数据，这使我们能够重建影响年平均地面温度和冰川变形速度的过程。岩石冰川水文学是联系岩石冰川温度和速度的参数，是至关重要的影响因素。从年平均气温来看，主要的外部强迫参数是冬季初雪覆盖。