A little more than a month after the collapse of some seracs on the Swiss side of the Grand Combin massif, a similar phenomenon occurred on the Marmolada: episodes that are an alarm bell on the state of health of the Alpine glaciers. “Climate change has made the high mountains more unstable and the glaciers are no longer in equilibrium,” he told ANSA the glaciologist Massimo Frezzotti, of the Roma Tre University.
“The seracs are the result of a natural process, but when the temperature gets too high the risk of collapses can increase”, observes. For example, on 2 July on the Marmolada the record for the highest temperature was reached, with about 10 degrees at the top, and generally the average temperature is around 7 degrees. Furthermore, the zero isotherm, that is the minimum altitude at which the temperature reaches zero degrees, provides an important clue: “currently isotherm zero on the Marmolada is located about a thousand meters higher than the highest peak”, which is about 3,300 meters.
That is to say, the freezing point is much higher than the glacier. Consequently, “the melting of the ice is significant, as is happening in all the Alps”, notes the expert. “It is clear that collapses occur when the melting processes are higher and, if we think of glaciers as frozen rivers flowing downstream, it is clear that in these conditionshiking in such environments is not safe. “
The collapse of a serac, continues Frezzotti, “is an objective danger that can always happen in the mountains, but there are times when the danger increases and, with it, the probability of a collapse.” , with very high temperatures already at the beginning of July, the situation is even worse “. In similar conditions, concludes the glaciologist,” the advice is to give up risky excursions: you must always go to the high mountains when there are the best conditions “.
Source: Ansa
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