Lombardysummer
There are no territories on the face of the Earth that are more capable than the mountain areas of showing the consequences of climate change and global warming with equal force and drama: in recent decades, around 200 glaciers have disappeared in the Alps alone. Running for cover is essential, also to preserve the huge economic (tourism but not only) that revolves around the delicate mountain ecosystems.
Monday 15 June 2020 6 minutes reading time
On the top of the Presena, between Lombardy and Trentino, there is a small sign of a possible turnaround. A long and meticulous work that has been taking place for 12 years now and that is also being repeated these days.
The merit lies in the wise use of technology: at the end of the ski season (which generally arrives on the Presena until May, although this year was interrupted a couple of months earlier due to the coronavirus lockdown), an immense network of geotextile tarpaulins is spread on the glacier to protect it from violent sunlight. "The idea of the sheets - explains the president of the Carosello company, Davide Panizza - was born from an experimental program with the universities of Trento and Milan to reduce or in any case decrease ablation. They have the function of keeping a temperature below, reflecting the sunlight and thus reducing the snow temperature: we have been applying them since 2008 with excellent results ".
THE RESULTS OF THE UNIVERSITY ANALYSIS The project, born in 2008 thanks to the collaboration with the Autonomous Province of Trento which financed the sheets and the snow production, since 2015 continues on the initiative of the Carosello company which has gradually extended, over the years, the glacier surface covered by geotextile sheets. It was 40,000 m² in 2014 and then 46,700 m² in 2015, 60,000 m² in 2016, 65,000 m² in 2017, 80,000 m² in 2018 and even 100,000 m² in summer 2019. On average, the thickness of ice that remains under the sheets at the end of the summer is around 2.5 / 3 meters.
Confirmation of the validity of this project already came in 2014 from an analysis carried out by university researchers: “The sector covered with geotextile showed average albedo values (the unit of measurement of the reflective power of a surface) of 0.64 against an average value of 0.43 for the uncovered glacial surface. The sector covered on average has a solar energy absorption of 36% while the uncovered surface of the glacier has absorbed on average 57% of the solar energy. Overall, the action of the sheet in modulating the radiative energy flows absorbed by the glacier leads to a 52% reduction in ablation for the testing period ".
SUMMER SHEETS, SCHEDULED WINTER SNOWING The anti-melting strategy is not limited to just summer sheets. In winter (or better, already in autumn, as soon as the temperatures allow it), the other phase of the program is implemented: the snow surface is increased through the latest generation snow plows. The programmed snow uses the water of an adjacent natural reservoir. The process lasts until late March and serves to protect the underlying ice. Along the glacier 10 snow cannons are placed with an hourly flow rate of 220 m3. The effort is therefore impressive. And certainly not at low cost (the average annual expenditure between management and maintenance exceeds 420 thousand euros). On the other hand, the effects can be seen: from a comparison between the condition of the glacier recorded in 2008 and the current one, it emerges that an ice thickness over 50 meters high has been saved from melting.
THE NUMBERS OF THE PRESENA GLACIER
Downstream altitude (skiable plane)
2710 s.l.m.
Upstream altitude
3000 above sea level
Exposure
North
Length developed
950 m
Difference
290 m
Maximum slope
40%
Current skiable area
M2 70.000
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