Northern side of the Alps “INSIDE THE GLACIERS“ Project 2021 Alessio Romeo & Francesco Sauro Revision A This document is neither contractual nor exhaustive, it may be modified and supplemented 30 April 2021 according to the evolution of the project and the integration of new participants. Be social with us #insidetheglacier @insidetheglaciers INSIDE THE GLACIERS Northern side of the Alps Switzerland (Valais) August-November 2021 CONTENTS : 1. INTRODUCTION : ................................................................................................................. 2 2. PROJECT HISTORY :........................................................................................................... 3 3. ORGANIZATION CHART : ................................................................................................... 4 4. PLACES AND DATES : ........................................................................................................ 6 5. PROJECT OBJECTIVES : .................................................................................................... 8 6. PROJECT PARTICIPANTS : ................................................................................................ 9 7. OPERATIONS PROGRESS:................................................................................................12 8. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY : ....................................................................................................13 9. NANOBIOCHEMISTRY : .....................................................................................................16 10. GLACIOLOGY : ...................................................................................................................20 11. INTRA-GLACIAL EXPLORATION : .....................................................................................21 12. DOCUMENTARY FILM : ......................................................................................................22 13. PARTNERS : .......................................................................................................................23 INSIDE THE GLACIERS insidetheglaciers.wordpress.com Alessio.Romeo: [email protected] Francesco Sauro: [email protected] 1 INSIDE THE GLACIERS Northern side of the Alps Switzerland (Valais) August-November 2021 1. INTRODUCTION : The impact of climate change is particularly noticeable in the Alps due to its effects on glaciers and permafrost. The last few years have seen an increase in the number of landslides, debris flows and other collapses directly linked to the consequences of the melting of ice masses and normally frozen rocky areas. These geophysical phenomena can and will, at least in part, call into question certain human activities in the high alpine valleys as well as local urbanization. Beyond the ecological problems which are already dramatic in themselves, the consequences caused by these events are also economic and political. It is therefore vital to closely monitor the state of these glaciers and their evolution. Due to the large amount of glacial expanses present in its massifs, Valais, located in the heart of the Alps, is a territory particularly suitable for the study of alpine glaciers. It is for this reason that the organizers of the Inside The Glaciers project decided this year to carry out their investigations on various Valais glaciers. The study of ice caves in the temperate glaciers of the Planet began in the late ’80s with the union of mountaineering, caving and cave diving techniques. The exploration of this unknown world has opened new ways to scientific researches and it continues today including such aimed at biological and paleo-climatological studies. The cryo-karstic phenomenon (study of the evolution of glacier-caves) is directly connected with hydrogeology and physics of glaciers and this knowledge is still binding researchers in all glacial areas of Planet. Started in October 2014 with the first International Glacial Caving Camp on the Gorner Glacier (Zermatt – CH), the main objectives of the « INSIDE THE GLACIERS Project » Project are to collaborate with researchers and scientists to organize and manage exploration projects into the heart of glaciers, guaranteeing professional photographic and video documentation essential for subsequent media dissemination. INSIDE THE GLACIERS insidetheglaciers.wordpress.com Alessio.Romeo: [email protected] Francesco Sauro: [email protected] 2 INSIDE THE GLACIERS Northern side of the Alps Switzerland (Valais) August-November 2021 2. PROJECT HISTORY : The project INSIDE THE GLACIERS since its creation in 2014 is at the origin of many expeditions to different places on the Planet. 2014: • Aletsch Glacier – Valais (Switzerland) • First International Glacier-Caving – Valais (Switzerland) 2015: • Abisso del Cenote – Dolomites (Italy) • 30th year of glacier-caving on Gorner Glacier – Valais (Switzerland) 2016: • Patagonia 2016 – Patagonia (Chile) • Grotta del Gelo al Mt. Etna - Sicily (Italy) • Cenote Abyss – Dolomites (Italy) • Gorner Glacier – Valais (Switzerland) 2017: • MaGPat – Patagonia (Argentina - Chile) • Gorner Glacier – Valais (Switzerland) • Greenland Ice cap – Kangerlussuaq (Groenland) 2018: • Inslandsis Groenlandais – Kangerlussuaq (Greenland) • Cenote Abyss – Dolomites (Italy) 2019: • Inylchek Glacier – Tian Shan (Kirghizstan) 2020: • Cenote Abyss – Dolomites (Italy) • Gorner Glacier – Valais (Switzerland) • Aletsch Glacier – Valais (Switzerland) INSIDE THE GLACIERS insidetheglaciers.wordpress.com Alessio.Romeo: [email protected] Francesco Sauro: [email protected] 3 INSIDE THE GLACIERS Northern side of the Alps Switzerland (Valais) August-November 2021 3. ORGANIZATION CHART : Organizers and communication managers : Alessio Romeo Italian freelance photographer based in Tuscany. Explorer and caver from more than 30 years he is specialized in glacier-caves. Master degree in Geology with a thesis on the Gorner glacier (CH) with a study of morphological evolution of several glacier caves. Alessio Romeo has more than fifteen years of professional experience in adventure, cave and travel photography, an experience formed during more than 50 expeditions all over the World. Since 2013, he has been part of the team CAVES with different functions : Technical Assistant at the beginning, Cave-Photography teacher since 2016 and official photographer in 2019. In 2017 he start to collaborate as photographer also in the Planetary Geology training for astronauts PANGAEA (ESA). https://romeoalessiophotography.com Francesco Sauro Italian explorer and speleologist, recognized by Time Magazine as one of the ten millennial that are having an impact in the future of science and planetary exploration. He is contracted Professor of Planetary Geology at the University of Bologna, with a peculiar interest in caves and subsurface exploration. With over twenty year of caving activity, Francesco Sauro has explored tens of kilometers of caves in any different lithology on Earth. In 2014 he won the Rolex Award for Enterprise with an exploration project in the Guyana highlands of South America. Since 2015 he has been selected as technical director of the course CAVES and PANGAEA organized by the European Space Agency for training astronauts (ESA, NASA, JAXA, RUSCOSMOS and CSA) for operational and for the study of human behavior purposes in harsh environments. http://labisso.blogspot.com Logistics manager : Didier Cassany Born and raised in the Alps (Haute-Savoie) near Valais, Didier Cassany works as mountain leader (UIMLA) and expedition leader (Alps, Himalaya). He is the author of several books for the prestigious Swiss Alpine Club and reports for French and Swiss mountain magazines. When he's not hiking, skiing or cycling in the Alps, he is in charge of the communication (social media strategy) for the British company Evergreencycling. https://www.evergreencycling.com INSIDE THE GLACIERS insidetheglaciers.wordpress.com Alessio.Romeo: [email protected] Francesco Sauro: [email protected] 4 INSIDE THE GLACIERS Northern side of the Alps Switzerland (Valais) August-November 2021 French scientific research manager : Roberta Brayner Chemical Engineer. Master of Science in satellite propulsion at the National Institute for Space Research (Brazil). Doctorate in Materials Chemistry at Paris Diderot University. Currently Associate Professor at the Interfaces, Processing, Organization and Systems Dynamics laboratory (ITODYS), University of Paris. Specialist in synthesis, characterization, application of nanoparticles, biosynthesis of nanoparticles using photosynthetic microorganisms, ecotoxicity of nanoparticles, detection by UV- Visible and Raman spectroscopy and electrochemistry of organic pollutants and heavy metals. Roberta Brayner participated in the Graal IV Expedition (2013) in Greenland for the identification of new species of microalgae and cyanobacteria resistant to cold and UV irradiation. Specialist in the characterization of cryoconite. Italian scientific research manager : Roberto Ambrosini Associate professor of ecology at the department of Environmental Science and Policy of the University of Milano. Roberto Ambrosini received the Msc in Natural Science and the PhD in Natural and Environmental Sciences from the University of Milano, Italy. He also received the BSc in statistics from the University of Milano Bicocca in 2007. His main scientific interests are the ecology of bird migration, the study of bird microbiomes, the ecology of glacier environments, and