Our species, in an evolutionarily negligible span of time, has managed to devastate most of the world's terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Humankind has not, however, managed to alter the profile of the high lands, protected by the verticality and ruggedness that orogeny has bestowed upon them. Yet the long wave of human activity has reached even the mountains.

The climate changes we have triggered are causing the melting of glaciers across the entire planet, and within a few years all that will remain of these ancient expanses of ice — of great naturalistic and cultural importance — will be a memory. One of the first to disappear will be the Marmolada glacier, the iconic mountain of the Dolomites.

A rapid decline

This was revealed by the study Recent evolution of Marmolada glacier (Dolomites, Italy) by means of ground and airborne GPR surveys, conducted by researchers from the Institute of Marine Sciences of the National Research Council (Cnr-Ismar), the universities of Trieste and Genoa, the Welsh university of Aberystwyth, and Arpa Veneto. By comparing two geophysical surveys carried out in 2004 and 2015, the scientists analysed the reduction in ice volume over that period.

Read also: I ghiacciai delle Alpi stanno scomparendo. E il Cervino che si sgretola ne è il simbolo

Chronicle of a death foretold

In little more than a decade the glacier underwent a 30 per cent reduction in volume, while its surface area decreased by 22 per cent. The researchers' conclusions are unequivocal: if the rate of reduction continues as in the decade studied, in 20 years only a meagre remnant of the Marmolada glacier will remain, and within 30 it will have disappeared entirely.

Read also: I ghiacciai dello Stelvio sono sempre più neri

"And if, as climate scenarios suggest, temperatures over the coming decades were to rise at a faster rate, this forecast could even prove to be an underestimate and the disappearance of the glacier could occur even more rapidly," explained Renato Colucci, glaciologist at Cnr-Ismar. "In any case, even if temperatures were to remain as they are, the glacier is already in complete disequilibrium with the current climate and so its fate appears sealed regardless."

CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche @CNRsocial_

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‼️Tra 25-30 anni il ghiacciaio della #Marmolada non ci sarà più ‼️
A delineare questo scenario, attraverso due modelli 3D, ricercatori di #CnrIsmar @UniTrieste @UniGenova @AberUni e @arpaveneto. Lo studio è pubblicato su Remote Sensing of the Environment
cnr.it/it/comunicato-…

♥ 19 11 dic 2019 · Apri su X →

How a glacier melts

The gradual melting of the glacier caused by rising temperatures has, the researchers explained, led to the emergence of the irregular rocky masses beneath, which have become "internal heat sources within the glacier itself." In this way the glacier, once made up of a single glacial mass, is now fragmented and divided into various units. "This aspect, combined with the change in albedo (snow and ice are white and reflect a great deal of solar radiation, whereas rock, being darker, reflects less), is further undermining the health of the Marmolada and accelerating its already severe and rapid melting," Colucci stated.

Glaciers like tigers

The fate of the Marmolada glacier appears to be that of all Alpine glaciers, whose surface area has halved over the past hundred years. Glaciers lying below 3,500 metres — which means all those in Italy — are like the walking dead and will disappear within the next 30 years. Meanwhile, half of those situated above 4,000 metres will melt by 2050.

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According to a team of researchers from Iucn, who conducted a study on the health of glaciers located within Unesco sites, glaciers deserve to be considered on a par with tigers, elephants and snow leopards — that is, those charismatic species whose conservation is considered a priority and is used to draw attention to the ongoing climate and environmental crisis.