On the Trails of the Glaciers. The expedition to Patagonia has started

Mettere a confronto foto di ghiacciai oggi con quelle di 60 anni fa, è il modo migliore per dimostrare come il riscaldamento globale stia cambiando la morfologia delle catene montuose più importanti del mondo.

Is there any better way of documenting ice melting over the last sixty years than comparing two photos in order to prove the retreat of glaciers and snow surface? Fabiano Ventura has launched the photographic and scientific project On the Trails of the Glaciers, which has now reached its fourth expedition, headed to the Tierra del Fuego and the Patagonian Andes.

 

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Caucasus 2011 – Comparison between historical images and the latest photographs taken during the expedition.

 

Started on Thursday the 11th of February, Ventura’s expedition will last two months. After covering 1,000 kilometres and following the tracks of the Italian explorer and priest Alberto Maria De Agostini, brother of Giovanni, the founder of the famed Italian geographic institute, Ventura will meet a group of engineers and geologists. The group of researchers brought together by the GlacioVar project are from Rome’s La Sapienza University and Milan University. They will collect information and create 3D models of some parts of the glacier terminus in order to determine the melting rate of glaciers and conditions of their surface. Moreover, they will verify the presence of debris or black carbon, a component of fine particulate matter. The results will be made available to the scientific community and the Italian Glaciological Committee (CGI).

 

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Comparative photography taken during the Alaska expedition, in 2013

 

On the Trails of the Glaciers depends o Macromicro association, which avails itself of professional photographers and has already launched three expeditions: in Karakorum (2009), the mountainous group between Pakistan, India, and China; the Caucasus (2011); and Alaska (2013). The objectives are many: safeguarding natural resources, in particular precious water; showing the importance of scientific research for sustainable development and spreading knowledge; recovering and enhancing a historic and cultural heritage such as photographic archives.

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The photographs, once compared to the historic ones, are the best scientific proof of global warming. They also confirm what the scientific community has already theorised almost unanimously. The comparison with the past makes climate change irrefutable and comprehensible to anyone. The next expeditions planned will head to Himalaya (2017) and the Alps (2019).

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