The project 'Blatten4Science', mandated by the Canton of Wallis with the consent of the data-owning Municipality of Blatten im Lötschental provides a comprehensive data cube of the process cascade which unfolded in May 2025. Initial rockfalls on Kleines Nesthorn quickly escalated to the sudden collapse of Unterer Birchgletscher, which led to a disastrous rock-ice avalanche burying most of the village of Blatten i.L. on May 28, 2025, and the consecutive filling of a temporary lake behind the debris cone.
This project provides the research community with open access to the imagery and diverse measurements collected during the months May and June 2025.
The aim is to enable the most detailed, comprehensive and accurate scientific analysis possible. Therefore, the data has been completely post-processed, corrected and gap-filled. It is important to note that the dataset is of a much higher quality and consistency than the one available to decision-makers at the time of the crisis in May 2025. Consequently, the dataset provided here cannot be used as a basis for analyzing the crisis management or decisions made at that time but rather serves as a basis to better understand the physical processes that were at play during and immediately after the catastrophic event.
Please read the technical documentation and the corresponding sensor / station factsheets carefully before working with this data.
