Climate change is leaving its mark: the Marmolada glacier is melting rapidly. Experts are talking about an “irreversible coma”.
Trentino – The Marmolada (Italian: Marmolada), also known as the “Queen of the Dolomites”, is the highest peak in the Dolomites at 3343 meters and is home to an impressive glacier on its north side. But the future of this landmark looks bleak. The glacier is shrinking by seven to ten centimeters every day and will soon disappear completely, experts predict.
Marmolada glacier has already lost 80 percent of its volume
Global warming is causing glaciers to melt and retreat. The Marmolata massif also shares this fate. According to the latest measurements According to the environmental association Legambiente, the Alpine Protection Commission Cipra and the Italian Glacier Committee, the glacier is on the verge of extinction.
Since 1888, the glacier has retreated by 1200 meters, which corresponds to a loss of area of more than 80 percent and a loss of volume of more than 94 percent. In the last five years alone, 70 hectares of area have been lost. “At this rate, the Marmolada glacier will no longer exist by 2040,” is the gloomy prediction. The experts describe the condition of the glacier as an “irreversible coma” and speak of a “death sentence.”
“Suffering of all Alpine glaciers”: Marmolata, Adamello and Forni glaciers are shrinking
Already, more and more bare rock and bare surfaces are visible on the Marmolada. “The glaciological data of the Marmolada make this glacier a symbol of the suffering of all Alpine glaciers,” explain Valter Maggi and Marco Giardino, president and vice president of the Italian Glaciological Committee.
Other glaciers share this fate. Climate change also hit the Adamello glacier between Lombardy and Trentino and the Forni glacier in Lombardy hard. “Measurements of the surface conditions of the glaciers indicate that the Marmolada and Forni glaciers are experiencing short-term peaks in thickness loss of seven and ten cm per day, respectively,” the report said.
Glacier melting is spreading in all countries – Germany and Switzerland are also drawing gloomy forecasts
In Germany, scientists are watching the melting of glaciers with concern. According to forecasts, the last four German glaciers will lose their status as glaciers in the coming years (Nordlicher Schneeferner, Watzmanngletscher, Höllentalferner and Blaueisgletscher). In about ten years, Germany is expected to be glacier-free, according to a publication by the dpaFor Austria, experts are already predicting: “Nothing is happening here anymore.”
In Switzerland, the glacier caves on the Monte Rosa massif, known as “ice cathedrals,” are melting ever faster. Geologist and cave explorer Alessio Romeo reported to the newspaper The Republicthat the once impressive cave system with ceiling heights of up to ten meters on the Gorner Glacier is now just a barren landscape with bare rock. Nothing remains of the once “beautiful cathedral of ice”. “Now there is only the sky there,” says Romeo, who has been researching the area since 1998. South America has already lost its last glacier.
The melting of the glaciers also poses dangers for visitors. Rockfalls are increasing, cracks between the ice and rock are getting bigger and new crevasses are forming. In a rock and glacier fall on July 3, 2022, eleven people were killed and two Germans were seriously injured. Climate change was named as a possible cause of the accident. On September 4, 2024, the dpa of another fatal accide
nt on the Marmolata.
The EU climate service Copernicus announced that the Summer 2024 will be the hottest since records began was. (jh/dpa)
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