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The State of Italian Glaciers: a Snapshot of the 2006-2007 Hydrological Period

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The State of Italian Glaciers: a Snapshot of the 2006-2007 Hydrological Period Geogr. Fis. Dinam. Quat. DOI 10.4461/GFDQ.2015.38.16 38 (2015), 175-198, 16 figg., 2 tab. MARIA CRISTINA SALVATORE (*,**), THOMAS ZANONER (*,***), CARLO BARONI (*,**,****), ALBERTO CARTON (*,***,*****), FRANCESCA ALBERTA BANCHIERI (*), CRISTINA VIANI (*,******), MARCO GIARDINO (*,******) & LUIGI PEROTTI (*,******) THE STATE OF ITALIAN GLACIERS: A SNAPSHOT OF THE 2006-2007 HYDROLOGICAL PERIOD ABSTRACT: SALVATORE M.C., ZANONER T., BARONI C., CARTON A., BANCH- In this work, the data collected were organized and processed using the IERI F.A., VIANI C., GIARDINO M. & PEROTTI L., The state of Italian glaciers: a orographic setting of the Alps (International Standardized Mountain Subdivi- snapshot of the 2006-2007 hydrological period. (IT ISSN 0391-9838, 2015). sion of the Alps, ISMSA-SOIUSA) rather than local and regional adminis- trative boundaries within which glaciers are placed (regions and provinces). In this study, we present a snapshot of Italian glaciers that outlines the The conducted survey allowed us to evaluate the distribution of Italian hydrological years of 2006 and 2007 and was derived from the interpreta- glaciers (969 including the two small Apennine glacierets of Calderone in the tion of high-resolution orthophotographs. The results are freely available 2 and downloadable on the website of the Italian Glaciological Committee Gran Sasso Massif), which covered an area of 387.4 km ± 2%. The most glaciated mountain group is the Ortles, with 134 glaciers covering an area (http://www.glaciologia.it/). 2 Considering that glacial resources are suffering the effects of an ex- of 76.5 km , whereas the Alpi Marittime hosts only one small glacier (0,041 km2). New data, which until now have never been published in Italian inven- treme degree of ongoing climate warming, glacier monitoring requires 2 homogeneous and accurate contemporary surveying approaches to real- tories, refer to the extension of the glacial debris cover (> 46 km , equivalent ize the effective management of multi-temporal glacier inventories in GIS to 12% of the whole glaciated surface in 2006-2007). Debris cover was out- environments. Furthermore, the diffuse and rapid withdrawal of glaciers lined on 614 glaciers, corresponding to 63% of all surveyed glacial units. requires the use of multi-temporal, repeatedly updated data acquired with The comparison of our data with those recorded in the first systematic the same instruments during the same time interval. glacier inventory of the Italian Alps (CGI 1959-1962) shows that in 2006- 2007, 181 glaciers were completely extinct, 470 glaciers remained unitary, and 171 bodies were fractionated to generate 243 new glaciers. As a con- ———————— sequence of recent glacial retreat and the induced fractionation of glacial (*) Comitato Glaciologico Italiano (Italian Glaciological Committee), bodies, the total number of glaciers increased (+ 147 glaciers), whereas the Corso Massimo D’Azeglio n. 42, 10125 Torino, Italy surface decreased by ca. 140 km2 (-27%). (**) Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, Via S. This work represents a breakthrough in the availability of glaciological Maria n. 53, 56126 Pisa, Italy data from the Italian Alps collected over a very short time period. This study (***) Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università di Padova, Via Grad- will also satisfy the rising demand of open source availability of environmen- enigo n. 6, 35121 Padova, Italy tal data pertaining to mountainous regions. (****) Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, IGG-CNR, Istituto di Geo- scienze e Georisorse, Pisa, Italy KEY WORDS: Glacier inventory, Debris cover, GIS, Aerial photographs, (*****) Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, IGG-CNR, Istituto di Italian Alps, Apennines Geoscienze e Georisorse, Padova, Italy (******) Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Torino, Via RIASSUNTO: SALVATORE M.C., ZANONER T., BARONI C., CARTON A., BAN- Valperga Caluso n. 35, 10135 Torino, Italy CHIERI F., VIANI C., GIARDINO M. & PEROTTI L., Lo stato dei ghiacciai italiani: Corresponding author: [email protected] (M.C. Salvatore) un’istantanea degli anni idrologici 2006-2007. (IT ISSN 0391-9838, 2015). This research was conducted in the framework of the activity of the Com- itato Glaciologico Italiano (Italian Glaciological Committee), Torino (Italy). In questo lavoro presentiamo l’istantanea dello stato dei ghiacciai italiani Financial support was provided by the CNR-Datagralp Project (Nextdata) nel periodo idrologico 2006-2007, derivata dall’interpretazione di ortofotogra- and the Italian MIUR Project (PRIN 2010-11): “Response of morphoclimatic fie ad alta risoluzione. I risultati sono liberamente disponibili e scaricabili sul system dynamics to global changes and related geomorphological hazards” sito internet del Comitato Glaciologico Italiano (http://www.glaciologia.it/). (local coordinators: C. Baroni, M. Freppaz and G. Dalla Fontana; national Considerando il fatto che la risorsa glaciale è fortemente sensibile agli coordinator: C. Baroni). effetti del riscaldamento climatico in corso, il monitoraggio delle variazioni The American Journal Experts staff (www.journalexperts.com/) im- glaciali richiede un approccio omogeneo, adeguata accuratezza e il contem- proved the English text of a preliminary version of the manuscript (Certificate poraneo rilevamento dei dati in periodi ristretti, al fine di realizzare catasti number 47D3-AF10-8EAA-AE1C-C404). multitemporali dei corpi glaciali gestibili in ambiente GIS. Inoltre, il diffuso Authors wish to thank reviewers for their valuable comments and sug- e rapido ritiro dei ghiacciai ci spinge a realizzare catasti multitemporali che gestions to improve the quality of the manuscript. aggiornino rapidamente i dati quantitativi della risorsa glaciologica disponi- Supplementary material is available on the website of Geografia Fisica e bile, acquisendoli con le stesse metodologie, negli stessi intervalli di tempo e Dinamica Quaternaria (http://gfdq.glaciologia.it/). mantenendoli sempre aggiornati. 175 In questo lavoro i dati raccolti sono stati organizzati ed elaborati con 2000; Lambrecht & Kuhn, 2007; Zumbühl & alii, 2008), riferimento alla Suddivisione Orografica Internazionale Unificata del Si- with strong acceleration registered in the past two decades stema Alpino (SOIUSA) piuttosto che ai confini amministrativi locali e regionali all’interno dei quali i ghiacciai sono collocati (regioni, province). (e.g., Paul & alii, 2004b; WGMS, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2005, L’indagine svolta ha permesso di valutare la distribuzione dei ghiacciai 2008, 2012, 2015; Zemp & alii, 2008, 2015). Significant evi- italiani (969 compresi i due piccoli glacionevati appenninici del Calderone dence of a strong glacial shrinkage in terms of surface area, nel massiccio del Gran Sasso), che coprivano una superficie di 387.4 km2 ± volume, and thickness has also been recorded for the Ghi- 2%. Il gruppo montuoso più estesamente glacializzato è l’Ortles-Cevedale acciaio del Calderone, the southernmost glacier in Europe con 134 ghiacciai che coprono una superficie di 76.5 km2, mentre le Alpi Marittime rappresentano il gruppo montuoso meno glacializzato, ospitan- located in the Gran Sasso Group (Central Apennine; Fiucci do solo un piccolo ghiacciaio di limitate dimensioni (0.041 km2). Nuovi & alii, 1997; Pecci & alii, 2008; WGMS, 2012). dati, che fino ad ora non erano mai stati indicati nei catasti glaciologici The accelerated retreat of glaciers recorded in all mountain italiani finora pubblicati, si riferiscono all’estensione della copertura detri- systems provides some of the most striking evidence in sup- tica sui corpi glaciali (> 46 km2 pari al 12% dell’intera superficie glaciale nel 2006-2007). La copertura detritica è stata delineata su 614 ghiacciai, port of current human-induced global climate change (IPCC, corrispondenti al 63% delle unità glaciali censite. 2007, 2013). Also for this reason, glacier behaviour represents Il confronto dei nostri dati con quelli pubblicati nel primo inventario one of the environmental issues attracting the most attention sistematico dei ghiacciai delle Alpi italiane (CGI-CNR 1959-1962) mostra not only from the scientific community but also from the gen- che, nel 2006-2007, 181 ghiacciai erano completamente estinti rispetto al eral public. The evocative impact of the many images depict- primo inventario, 470 ghiacciai avevano continuato a rimanere apparati unitari e 171 ghiacciai si sono frazionati per generare 243 nuovi corpi gla- ing the dramatic retreat of glacial termini, which are well ap- ciali. Per effetto della recente contrazione degli apparati glaciali e del con- preciable over the course of a single lifetime, offers the direct seguente frazionamento dei corpi glaciali, il numero totale dei ghiacciai nel perception that glacial collapse is underway (Zumbühl &alii , 2006-2007 è aumentato (+147 ghiacciai) mentre la superficie è diminuita di 2008). Furthermore, glacial retreat and cryosphere degrada- circa 140 km2 (-27%). Questo lavoro rappresenta un significativo contributo alla disponibili- tion creates new alpine landscapes (Linsbauer & alii, 2009, tà di dati glaciologici relativi alle Alpi italiane, fornendo un’istantanea della 2013) and induces new scenarios of geomorphological risk in risorsa disponibile negli anni considerati, anche nella prospettiva di soddi- the newly formed paraglacial environment (sensu Ballantyne, sfare la crescente domanda di disponibilità di dati ambientali (open source) 2002; Harris & alii, 2009; Huggel & alii, 2010).
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