Before the collapse on Sunday, on the Marmolada “there were no obvious signs of an imminent collapse. Except for very rare cases, in glaciers, unlike landslides, there are no warning systems that measure movements and deformations in real time “. This was underlined by the researchers of the Glaciological-Geophysical Working Group for Research on the Marmolada, who have been studying the glacier for twenty years, coordinated by Aldino Bondesan, of the University of Padua, head of the Italian Glaciological Committee (CGI) for coordinating the campaign. annual glaciology in the Eastern Alps.
The group is also composed of Roberto Francese, geophysicist of the University of Parma and member of the Italian Glaciological Committee, and Massimo Giorgi and Stefano Picotti, geophysicists of the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (Ogs). For scholars also the crevasses, which played a fundamental role in the detachment, “had already been visible for several years and in themselves are part of the normal glacial dynamics”.
The detachment of seracs is a “frequent” phenomenon in glaciers, stresses the study group, and “is part of normal glacial dynamics”, but “rarer is the case of block collapses like the one that occurred in Marmolada”.
According to scholars, “the retreat and warming determine an increase in the frequency of events, and in general an increase in the danger of glacial fronts. The annual observation of many glaciers was recently abandoned precisely for the increase in risk conditions on the glacial fronts.
However, not all glaciers present the same dangerous conditions, which vary according to the temperature but also to the morphology, slopes, dimensions and other parameters. Each glacier must be studied individually, identifying the specific risks – they conclude – which are added to those already inherent in the frequentation of the Alpine environment “.
Source: Ansa
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