HHundreds of sensors have been placed to measure the temperature of the ground near glaciers on every continent, and the result is always the same: from the Alps to the Andes, the ground near glaciers warms much faster than elsewhere. Climate change is rapid. An article just published on explains it Nature Communications which brings the results of Ice Communities research, coordinated by the State University of Milan and by the Institute of Geosciences and Georesources of the Cnr of Pisa, in collaboration with the MUSE-Science Museum of Trento and the University of Texas in Austin.
The Forni glacier, in the Ortles-Cevedale group. The effect of climate change is being felt.
Sensors placed everywhere from Svalbard to Peru have made it possible to build the most detailed map of temperatures in high mountain areas in existence. What emerges is very worrying. Comparing the land 100 meters from the glaciers with those three kilometers away, the difference is evident: in the last twenty years, those closest to the glaciers have warmed twice as much as the others. In the Northern Hemisphere, for example, +0.63° versus +0.34°; in the southern one even +1.38° versus +0.79°. Why does this happen?
«There are two reasons», explains Francesco Ficetola, professor of Zoology at the University of Milan and coordinator of the research. «The first is that there is less snow, and the snow acts as an insulator. Less snow means less insulation of the ground which warms up more quickly. The second reason is linked to the retreat of glaciers, which are islands of coldgigantic masses of ice that cool the surrounding environment and generate cold winds. If they retreat, the effect of the cold wind is felt much less, or even not at all. The result is a loop effect; ever smaller glacier, ever faster warming. The combined effect of the rise in temperature and the lack of precipitation is dramatic.”
The Yanamarey Glacier in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Due to climate change, it is retreating.
Climate change: tropical mountains are most at risk
The effect is felt everywhere, but the area most at risk by far is that of the tropical mountains: «The Andes start from the Amazon and exceed 5000 meters; there is the highest concentration of biodiversity in the world, with plants and animals that live only there, and the consequences of climate change on the ecosystem can be important”, continues Ficetola.
And our Alps? Here too climate change is making itself felt: «In the next few weeks, the last glacier in the Orobic Alps, the Trobio, is expected to disappear. And when a glacier is extinct, it is difficult for it to reform. Snow takes 7-8 years to become ice, and therefore it would take many consecutive years of low temperatures and heavy snowfall for a glacier to be reborn. With the current situation, it seems very difficult.”
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