## 5 Discussion
### Insights from Spatial Patterns of Movement Direction and Seasonality
The correlation analysis confirms this trend for all Grison sites (correlation between elevation and absolute seasonality; Figure 7). We also observe a strong correlation between absolute seasonality and increasing subsidence mostly due to higher absolute elevation changes (Figure 7). Additionally, no difference in the temporal delay between start of seasonal increase and end of snow cover could be observed compared to the previously mentioned features of ongoing permafrost degradation. Hence, the observed effect of increasing velocity during the snow-free period might also be related to active layer thawing or increasing permafrost temperatures, leading to higher movement rates. However, previous studies [19,20,23] that observed seasonal increases in velocity during snow-free periods mostly attributed them to strong rainfall events. Hence, the rainfall events might cause acceleration not solely due to increased water availability but also due to the energy transfer of rainwater from the surface (warmed by air and sun illumination) into the active layer. The transported heat would be then available for increasing melt and permafrost temperatures. Energy transport by rain water would also explain why acceleration occurs faster within a few weeks after the end of snow cover, whereas modeled approaches, which use heat conduction only [29] wrongly predict acceleration much later (rather months than weeks after end of snow cover). The rather weak correlation of start of seasonality to EOS (Figure 8) might be due to other effects being more relevant (e.g., mean daily surface temperature after melt, total precipitation after melt). However, further in situ observations such as borehole temperature and inclinometer measurements (e.g., [21,29]) distributed over one rock glacier along with geophysical, surface temperature and precipitation measurements would be necessary to confirm these hypotheses and identify whether the observed acceleration during the snow-free period is caused by subsidence at the near surface driven by temperature and rain water energy transport or by accelerated movement in the shear horizons due to increased water availability and pore pressure. Besides this systematic increase in seasonality towards the root zone, strong variations in seasonality can also be observed at short distances within rock glaciers (two rock glacier parts at Kaiserbergtal, northern rock glacier at Davains; Figure 6a,e) or at active features adjacent to each other (Muragl; Figure 6d). These systematic differences indicate that the seasonal component is not only driven by external drivers such as elevation and slope but might also be affected by internal factors such as origin, permafrost temperature, ice content or state. As we lack sufficient data on these parameters, we cannot analyze those factors and how they might affect the seasonal component. Hence, movement direction and seasonality are useful to differentiate rock glacier parts with different dynamics and drivers and possibly variations in internal structures. Further in situ measurements and geophysical investigations are required to link the observed movement variations with other parameters to achieve a more holistic understanding of rock glacier dynamics.