(ANSA) – UDINE, 05 SEPTEMBER – In the Julian Alps the three last glaciers “are fighting to survive”. These are the Montasio glacier, still the only one that can be defined as such, and the Canin and Triglav glaciers-snowfields, reduced to fragments. These glacial bodies represent 5% of the volume present during the Little Ice Age. The Canin has gone from 9.5 hectares in the 1950s to 1.4 hectares today. The same fate for the Triglav, which has lost 98% of its surface, while the Montasio is holding up better, thanks to its exposure and winter avalanches.
These are some data collected during the Friuli stage of the Carovana dei Ghiacciai 2024, a Legambiente campaign, in collaboration with the Italian Glaciological Committee, and presented today in Udine.
Of concern, experts said, is the repetition of extreme events during the summer period, which accelerates the negative evolution of these small glacial bodies. “With the disappearance of the glaciers – said Vanda Bonardo, national head of the Alps for Legambiente and president of Cipra Italia – the Earth is losing one of its largest ecosystems. And without accurate knowledge of glacial biodiversity and proglacial areas and monitoring over time, we will not be able to understand the negative effects that the disappearance of the glaciers will have on the functioning of ecosystems and on our way of life”.
According to Valter Maggi, president of the Glaciological Committee, “the contraction of these glaciers is direct evidence of climate change in the Julian Alps”, although, noted climatologist Renato Colucci, “the increase in the amount of rain and snow is a characteristic that can be extended to the entire Alpine arc”. (ANSA).
2024-09-05 21:10:42