Collapse of an Italian glacier the day after a heat record: what we know

The one who is nicknamed “the queen of the Dolomites”, the Marmolada Glacier, culminates at 3,343 meters in the Italian Alps. It is the highest mountain in the Dolomites, which is located about 170 kilometers from Venice. It is one of the most popular hiking areas in Italy, especially at this time of year, before the heavy heat of high summer. This Sunday, while two teams of hikers were traveling well-known paths in the area, a huge block of ice from Punta Rocca, one of the peaks of the massif, broke off before descending to a speed estimated at nearly 300 km/h. The block of ice split into two parts and thecollapse pieces spread over about 300 meters. The balance sheet, not definitive, is heavy, at least six dead, eight injured and a dozen missing.

A heat record recorded the day before

The Dolomites region has been facing exceptionally high temperatures for several weeks. Moreover, the area is in a state of drought severe since spring with numerous fires during the month of June.

A heat record was recorded the day before the glacier collapsed: 10°C at the top of the Marmolada, the highest temperature recorded since the start of the records weather report on the area. At this altitude, even in the middle of summer, the temperature should not exceed 0°C. A few days before, an exceptional temperature of 24°C had been recorded in the same area at 2,000 meters above sea level. Such heat has the effect of weakening the glacier, and sometimes, of letting water pass under the ice, which can trigger a collapse. The weather conditions are particularly mild and dry in this region of Italy, and the few rare precipitations that have fallen in recent weeks have been rain, and not snow, including at high altitudes.

An observation that applies to all of the Northern Alps: in Italy, Austria and France in particular. let’s remember that the summit of Mont-Blanc also broke a temperature record on June 18, with 10.4°C. On the Austrian side, Mount Sonnblick, which culminates at 3,105 meters, undergoes a melting record snowfall. All the snow has already melted in early July, when it never melted earlier than August 13 (in 2003).

The Marmolada glacier will disappear within 30 years

Despite these abnormally high temperatures in the Dolomite range, no restriction measures had apparently been put in place for hikers. According to Jacopo GabrieliItalian researcher in polar sciences at the CNR“ it is impossible to predict when the serac of a glacier may break up”. The Italian organization estimates that the Marmolada glacier will have disappeared within 25 to 30 years. Italy has also been described as ” climate change hotspot” by the UNjust like the Mediterranean basin in France.

According to French CNRS experts“ the observed retreat of glaciers for several decades is attributable, with a high level of confidence, to global warming. Whatever the climate scenario, the glaciers will continue to melt until 2050. The rest will depend on our greenhouse gas emissions ».