VIDEO: Monte Rosa Glacier shrinking fast, say scientists
The research makes for grim reading; the stark reality is that in only a few decades it could disappear completely.
The vast Monte Rosa is the second highest mountain in the Alps and a paradise for skiers and snowboarders. It also acts as a real time experiment for observing climate change.
Giovanni Mortara, a geologist from the National Research Council in Italy, said, “We’ve seen a substantial reduction in the thickness of the ice, some metres per year, and this year we’re even talking about some 10 centimeters a day.”
Geologists are measuring the thickness and the movements of the glacier. Over recent decades, the ice cover of the Monte Rosa east face saw an accelerated and drastic disappearance.
Some glaciers have completely vanished. Scientists, view the long term forecast with great foreboding.
Edge: magnificent Monte Rosa glacier with an iPhone - now seriously snowy @valaiswallis @MySwitzerland_f @fshields pic.twitter.com/Am4fpMFgSu
— Fi Photos (@AlpineClick) November 26, 2013
Geologist from the university of Pavia, Silvio Seno, said, “There isn’t only one possible scenario for the future. In the most optimistic one, the global temperature will rise by around one degree or just under one degree within a century. In the most dramatic one, there will be a much greater rise, around five degrees on average, which is a huge amount. Naturally the effect on the glaciers, in either the more positive or more negative scenarios, would be very serious and would mean the Alpine glaciers’ disappearance.”
The problems are already in evidence the nearby villages are seeing a shortage of fresh water and the number of rockslides are increasing.
