GREAT REPORT – A veritable sanctuary of biodiversity bringing together more than 4,000 species of plants and animals, the Écrins, a national park since 1973, have become, with global warming, a veritable field of experimentation for scientists. A whole fauna, a whole flora, a whole preserved natural space are threatened by the inexorable melting of the ice.
On the plateau of the Glacier Blanc, the eight skiers seem lost, towered over by the austere masses of the Barre des Écrins piercing the blue of the sky at 4,102 meters. « We’ll rope up for the descent. Snow bridges are barely covered », warns the guide Julien Charron, taking a rope out of his bag. He inspects the thin snowpack of the glacier: 50 centimeters of snow against the usual 2 to 3 meters. « It’s too hot, 3 °C above seasonal norms… », had warned the caretaker of the Écrins refuge. Member of the high mountain observation network of this national park, Damien Haxaire does not spend a day without reading the weather station installed not far from his “sentinel refuge” perched at 3,175 meters.
Clotilde Sagot’s team takes data from the Lac du Pavé weather station (2841 m). Olivier Coret/ Divergence
In order to measure the evolution of the glacier, park agents and INRAE glaciologists venture twice a year into this crevassed kingdom. In the spring, skis on their backs, they climb up to the glacial front and go around the frontal moraine…
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