The Queen of the Dolomites glacier is in danger of disappearing within the next one and a half decades, as Italian scientists are warning that Marmolada already shrunk 80% of its size in 70 years as a result of global warming.
Largest, Most Symbolic Glacier
The Queen of the Dolomites is the most symbolic and most massive glacier in the area of the Dolomites. It is also known as the Marmolada, a 3,343-meter mountain at the borders of the Veneto and Trentino regions.
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Forecasting the Extinction of the Glacier
University of Padua geophysics professor and Italian Glaciological Committee (CGI) member Aldino Bondesan said that forecasts are now closer to predicting the extinction of the glacier.
According to Bondesan, there is nothing that can be done to save the glacier for the short-term, because the melting trend of the glaciers not only in Italy but also all over the world may be reversed only through a worldwide effort to reduce and mitigate climate change.
Pandemic Lockdown's Influence Negligible
Bondesan said that the dramatic reduction of carbon emissions caused by the COVID-19 lockdown only had a small influence on reversing the melting of the Marmolada's glaciers. The little reversal did not last, and now things are back to the usual, undesirable trend.
Every year starting in 1902, Marmolada has been measured; it is considered to be a natural indicator of climate change. In 1954, the glacier's volume was 95 million cubic meters. It has since shrunk down to only 14 million cubic meters.
Bondesan says that it has a better response to climate change than others, so that its alarming reduction in dimensions and volume is a clear indication of dangerous levels of warming.
The GCI is routinely monitoring 200 out of the 900 glaciers present in Italy. Its latest findings regarding Marmolada will be reported to the World Glacier Monitoring Service and will be published in the Journal of Glaciology.
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The Threat of Planpincieux Glacier
The dire warning regarding the state of Marmolada occurs in the heels of an alert on Planpincieux, the Mont Blanc glacier, which occurred in only less than one month.
In a Courmayeur hamlet in Aosta Valley, residents were hastily evacuated due to the heightened risk of Planpincieux's possible collapse. Authorities think that a large part of Planpincieux could be released because of anomalous trends in temperatures recorded by experts.
This may cause the movement of Mont Blanc's glacial mass. Continuous close monitoring of Planpincieux has been conducted since 2013 to try to determine how fast the melting of its ice mass is taking place.
In August of 2018, a massive storm in the area caused debris to flow, sweeping an elderly couple's car from the road and claiming their lives. This road is currently closed. If a collapse would ever occur, the released mass will already be upon the municipal road located below it within two minutes.
The disappearance of glaciers, including the Queen of the Dolomites, should be a wakeup call for us on the threats of global warming.
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