Haeberli, W (2008). Changing views of changing glaciers. In: Orlove, B [et al.]. Darkening Peaks: Glacier Retreat, Science, and Society. Berkeley, US, 23-32. Postprint available at: http://www.zora.uzh.ch University of Zurich Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich. Zurich Open Repository and Archive http://www.zora.uzh.ch Originally published at: Orlove, B [et al.] 2008. Darkening Peaks: Glacier Retreat, Science, and Society. Berkeley, US, 23-32. Winterthurerstr. 190 CH-8057 Zurich http://www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2008 Changing views of changing glaciers Haeberli, W Haeberli, W (2008). Changing views of changing glaciers. In: Orlove, B [et al.]. Darkening Peaks: Glacier Retreat, Science, and Society. Berkeley, US, 23-32. Postprint available at: http://www.zora.uzh.ch Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich. http://www.zora.uzh.ch Originally published at: Orlove, B [et al.] 2008. Darkening Peaks: Glacier Retreat, Science, and Society. Berkeley, US, 23-32. 2 Changing Views of Changing Glaciers Wilfried Haeberli Glacier changes have been observed for cen- together with instrumentally measured sea- turies. Throughout historical times, the per- surface and land air temperatures, as the ception of these often striking changes in highest-confi dence temperature indicators in high-mountain environments has shifted the climate system (Figure 2.39a in Houghton from legends about holy peaks and fear of et al. 2001). punishment for worldly misbehavior via natural This chapter concentrates on the increas- catastrophes to curiosity about movements ing interest in the glacier during roughly the from the “icy sea” of mountains and roman- past three to four centuries in the European tic enthusiasm for and realistic documenta- Alps, where rich material exists, where sys- tion of local phenomena to the discovery of tematic monitoring programs were fi rst initi- past Ice Ages and the corresponding ideologi- ated, and where discussions have sometimes cal disputes about the origin and evolution of been intense. The primary emphasis of this the earth. Modern scientifi c investigation and chapter is on the major directions of change worldwide coordination of glacier observations rather than the details of a development that, began toward the end of the nineteenth cen- in reality, has a great many facets. Unavoid- tury, and the scientifi c observation of glacier ably, therefore, it must remain a rather fl uctuations went through deep crises before sketchy and somewhat subjective outline. evolving toward modern, integrated, multilevel A more detailed overview of early develop- concepts and advanced technologies. Today, ments has been presented by Haeberli and glacier changes are increasingly recognized Zumbühl (2003). Much more differentiated as a key phenomenon of global change in cli- analyses would be not only possible but also mate and living conditions on earth. Working worthwhile; the power of images and views Group 1 of the Third Assessment Report of the profoundly infl uences our perception of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change environmental change in a critical period for (IPCC) lists the shrinking of mountain glaciers, human life on earth. 23 OOrlove07_C02.inddrlove07_C02.indd 2323 99/26/07/26/07 44:23:04:23:04 PMPM CURIOSITY AND ROMANTIC ENTHUSIASM FOLLOWING ROUSSEAU AND VON HALLER The early period of glacier perception is char- acterized by an antagonism between fear and fascination. The widespread advance of Alpine glacier tongues to their greatest Little Ice Age extent around AD 1600 was in places perceived as a threat to mountain dwellers (Zumbühl 1980). In fact, legends about glacier advances over fl owering meadows as a heavenly punish- FIGURE 2.1. Mont Blanc, French Alps, from Sallenches ment for the worldly misbehavior of humans in 1802. Painting by Pierre-Louis de la Rive (from Rasmo exist in various high-mountain valleys and et al. 1981). refl ect the early religious or mythological attri- bution of causes and effects. The fi rst scientifi c descriptions, those of J. Scheuchzer, J. Altmann, zerland as “a beautiful mountain/glacier coun- and G. Gruner, appeared in the eighteenth try in the heart of Europe” for centuries. The century (Haeberli and Zumbühl 2003). In the detail of the tongue of the Unterer Grindelwald context of the contemporaneous call of J.-J. Glacier (Figure 2.3) from a painting by Caspar Rousseau (“back to nature”) for a new approach Wolf perfectly refl ects the romantic enthusiasm to life and the poetry of A. von Haller (which and curiosity about the spectacular phenomenon created the historical “myth of the Alps”), the of moving ice that led to much deeper-reaching growing scientifi c interest was accompanied questions about glaciers and life on earth. by romantic views about the “pure,” “eternal,” and “untouched” fi rn fi elds and the water- and THE ONSET OF SCIENCE: FROM A life-giving glaciers. The unique appeal of high- NATURAL CATASTROPHE TO mountain scenery in the European Alps was THE ICE AGE DEBATE the extreme contrast between glaciers, as an expression of “wild, indestructible” nature, and The initial impulse for thinking in a completely the carefully cultivated Alpine landscape, with new dimension about humankind and nature its assumed “hard, simple, good, and healthy” originated at least partially outside scientifi c living. circles (Knight 2004). On the occasion of the The painting by Pierre-Louis de la Rive 1818 Mauvoisin catastrophe, caused by the out- depicting Mont Blanc (Figure 2.1) illustrates burst of a lake dammed by ice avalanche debris this notion of sustainable living in an intact from the advancing Giétro Glacier (Figure 2.4; high-mountain environment (cf. the exten- Kasser and Haeberli 1979; Röthlisberger 1981), sive discussion of historical developments by the farmer and mountain-goat hunter Jean- Bätzing 2003). The view is upward through a Pierre Perraudin met with the leading scientists green, garden-like landscape with open forest of the time (Agassiz, de Charpentier, Escher von to the intact and “clean” white of fi rn and ice der Linth) and told them that the glaciers must on a beautiful mountain peak. With the glacier- have been much larger in the past to have been clad peak of the Eiger in the background and a able to deposit large rocks far down the valley. cow in the foreground (Figure 2.2), Maximilien Such ideas may have been quite widespread de Meuron portrays a combination of symbols among the “primitive” Alpine population living that represents this paradise-like image and close to and experiencing glaciers, but they were indeed became part of the reputation of Swit- new and astonishing in the academic circles 24 societal perceptions OOrlove07_C02.inddrlove07_C02.indd 2424 99/26/07/26/07 44:23:04:23:04 PMPM FIGURE 2.3. The advancing front of the Unterer Grindelwald Glacier, 1774–77. Detail of a painting by Caspar Wolf, the most important eighteenth-century painter of the Swiss Alps. (Photo H. J. Zumbühl) FIGURE 2.2. The Eiger near Grindelwald, Swiss Alps, painted from the alpine meadows of Wengernalp by Maximilien de Meuron, probably in 1821 (from Rasmo et al. 1981). FIGURE 2.4. Broken and collapsed debris cone of ice-avalanche deposits from the advancing Giétro Glacier after the sudden lake outburst and devastating fl ood wave at Mauvoisin/ Bagnes, Swiss Alps, painted probably in 1818 by Hans Conrad Escher von der Linth (from Rasmo et al. 1981; cf. details in Kasser and Haeberli 1979). OOrlove07_C02.inddrlove07_C02.indd 2525 99/26/07/26/07 44:23:04:23:04 PMPM THE BEGINNING OF SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATIONS: CLIMATIC PERIODICITIES AND CATASTROPHES In 1893, François Alphonse Forel established the fi rst systematic glacier observation network in Switzerland. Using this network as a model, the Sixth International Geological Congress in Zurich in 1894 initiated coordinated worldwide observation of glacier changes with the Interna- FIGURE 2.5. The Agassiz team in the hut of Hugi, which tional Glacier Commission under Forel as the later became the “Hôtel des Neuchâtelois” (the large leading board of the newborn network. The goal boulder serving as shelter) on the medial moraine of Unteraar Glacier. Lithograph after a drawing by Joseph was to learn more about the factors—whether Bettanier published by Agassiz (1840–41) (from Rasmo internal or external to the earth system—that et al. 1981). govern climate changes and cause Ice Ages to begin and end (Forel 1895). The monitoring strategy consisted of regular and exact surveys at selected glacier tongues but developed in cultural centers in the lowlands. also included indigenous knowledge about ear- Louis Agassiz and his colleagues, detecting lier glacier stages collected by scientists through traces of glacier erosion and erratic boulders communication with the mountain people. It far from the Alps or other mountain chains, was clearly oriented toward a better understand- formulated the Ice Age theory, and this imme- ing of large-scale and long-term processes and diately excited a heated debate. Because the therefore thought to require patience in order Bible contains no description of any smaller or to bear fruit for future generations. It was this larger glaciers, the idea of “Ice Ages” was widely generous and “transdisciplinary” concept that considered offensive. The debate went on for helped develop one of the longest existing series decades and increasingly encouraged accurate of environmental observations, a real treasure fi eld studies. The fi rst paintings and illustra- of climate-related geoscience. During the twen- tions showing scientists setting foot on and liv- tieth century, the evolution of the international ing or working on glaciers date from this time glacier-monitoring program and the corre- (Figure 2.5). The thorough investigations of the sponding views of glacier changes is marked by Unteraar Glacier by an interdisciplinary group four distinct phases (see Haeberli, Hoelzle, and of scientists led by Agassiz in the 1840s can be Suter 1998).