ALERT Alpine glacier in Italy threatens valley, forces evacuations

H

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
Alpine glacier in Italy threatens valley, forces evacuations
yesterday (6 August 2020)

ROME (AP) — Experts were closely monitoring a Mont Blanc glacier on Friday, a day after they evacuated 75 tourists and residents amid fears the glacier could soon break apart and crash into a popular Italian Alpine valley.

Valerio Segor, a glacier expert in Valle d’Aosta, a region in northwestern Italy, told reporters on Friday that the next 72 hours were critical for the Planpincieux Glacier, which lies under a massif on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps.

Those forced to evacuate came from homes and holiday lodgings in the Ferret Valley in the shadow of the glacier. Tourists on Friday were barred from entering the scenic valley.

The glacier’s size has been likened to that of a soccer field under a 80-meter (265-foot) high mass of ice. Abrupt shifts in temperature from hot to cold to hot again are being blamed for the precarious state of the glacier, which Segor says has a stream of water running beneath it.

The glacier’s state has been monitored since 2013. Last year saw similar concerns, but the glacier held on to its grip on the mountain at 2,600-2,800 meters (8,500-9,200 feet) of altitude.

Lately, Planpincieux has been creeping downward at the rate of about 80-100 centimeters (32-40 inches) each day, Segor said.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted glacier expert Fabrizio Troilo as saying there is “the danger it could give way in an instant.”

Corriere said an Alpine refuge was still open for climbers who come from the French side of Mont Blanc, which is known in Italy as Monte Blanco.
___
Follow all AP coverage of climate change issues at Climate.
 
hunybee

hunybee

Veteran Member
the only link i could find for this was at the end of the article that says climate.

it brings you to the "climate" page of the AP.

Lord have mercy, that is a whole bag of crazy.

go look at the headlines on that page!! LOL

here is a sample of one:

Burger King addresses climate change by changing cows’ diets
Burger King is staging an intervention with its cows.
The chain has rebalanced the diet of some of the cows by adding lemon grass in a bid to limit bovine contributions to climate change. By tweaking their diet, Burger King said Tuesday that it believes it can reduce a cow’s daily methane emissions by about 33%.
Cows emit methane as a by-product of their digestion, and that has become a potential public relations hurdle for major burger chains.
Greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector made up 9.9% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Of that amount, methane emissions from livestock (called enteric fermentation) comprised more than a quarter of the emissions from the agriculture sector.......
 
jward

jward

passin' thru
www.usnews.com.jpg
This image taken from a video shows an aerial view of part of the Planpincieux Glacier, which lies under a massif of Mont Blanc, located in the Alps, Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. Experts are closely monitoring a glacier they fear could break apart and crash into an Italian Alpine valley. On Thursday, 75 residents and tourists in the Ferret valley were evacuated from their homes and two lodgings in the shadow of the glacier. The glacier's size has been likened to that of a soccer field under a 80-meter (265 foot) high mass of ice. Sharp shifts in temperature are blamed for the risk. (AP Photo/Local Team) The Associated Press

greysage said:
Finally get to use this one!

:worth:
Click to expand...
 
jward

jward

passin' thru
Personally, I'm a fan of a good melt off~ it may seem frightening, but everyone will be safe, n the rewards worth it...
..would be a good place for a live cam, though :shkr:


Alpine Glacier in Italy Threatens Valley, Forces Evacuations
Experts are closely monitoring a glacier they fear could break apart and crash into an Italian Alpine valley.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content Aug. 7, 2020, at 1:01 p.m.





Housecarl said:
Alpine glacier in Italy threatens valley, forces evacuations
yesterday (6 August 2020)

ROME (AP) — Experts were closely monitoring a Mont Blanc glacier on Friday, a day after they evacuated 75 tourists and residents amid fears the glacier could soon break apart and crash into a popular Italian Alpine valley.

Valerio Segor, a glacier expert in Valle d’Aosta, a region in northwestern Italy, told reporters on Friday that the next 72 hours were critical for the Planpincieux Glacier, which lies under a massif on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps.

Those forced to evacuate came from homes and holiday lodgings in the Ferret Valley in the shadow of the glacier. Tourists on Friday were barred from entering the scenic valley.

The glacier’s size has been likened to that of a soccer field under a 80-meter (265-foot) high mass of ice. Abrupt shifts in temperature from hot to cold to hot again are being blamed for the precarious state of the glacier, which Segor says has a stream of water running beneath it.

The glacier’s state has been monitored since 2013. Last year saw similar concerns, but the glacier held on to its grip on the mountain at 2,600-2,800 meters (8,500-9,200 feet) of altitude.

Lately, Planpincieux has been creeping downward at the rate of about 80-100 centimeters (32-40 inches) each day, Segor said.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted glacier expert Fabrizio Troilo as saying there is “the danger it could give way in an instant.”

Corriere said an Alpine refuge was still open for climbers who come from the French side of Mont Blanc, which is known in Italy as Monte Blanco.
___
Follow all AP coverage of climate change issues at Climate.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
W

WalknTrot

Veteran Member
Springtime in the mountains. :shr: Look out below.

Maybe they'll discover a frozen mammoth or unearth another Otzi.
 
jward

jward

passin' thru
Select said:
If this is a chunk, put controlled demo charges so it breaks up into small pieces and problem solved. If it's like a 1/4 long, send over the experts from Lebanon!
Click to expand...
ouch lol. Too soon? : ) I can't recall it's dimensions other than the 265 feet height.
 
Millwright

Millwright

Knuckle Dragger
_______________
Italy resort lifts alert on melting glacier threat

Rome (AFP) – An Italian Alpine resort on Sunday lifted a state of alert declared last week over fears that a chunk of glacier on the Mont Blanc mountain range might crash down on them.

Around 15 people who were evacuated can now return to their homes in Courmayeur and traffic in the Cap Ferret valley is permitted again, said a statement from town officials.

Climate change has been increasingly melting the world’s glaciers, creating a new danger for the town of Courmayeur, a resort community in Italy’s Aosta Valley region, near the French border.

The town was put on high alert on Wednesday as a block of ice estimated at about 500,000 cubic metres — the size of the Milan cathedral, one official said — from the Planpincieux glacier risked falling and threatening homes.

But on Sunday, town officials announced that all security measures had been lifted.

Some locals were dismissive of the closure, and said it further hit a tourism season already affected by the coronavirus measures.

But the mayor’s office said again on Sunday: “The evacuation was necessary and inevitable because of the glacier risk.”

While regretting what it said was the alarmist tone of some news coverage, officials insisted that the threat to the town had been real.

During a recent helicopter flypast, an AFP reporter saw a gaping chasm on the lower part of the Planpincieux, from which two cascades of water flowed towards the valley, as it hung from the mountainside like a gigantic block of grey polystyrene.

In September and October last year, the Planpincieux glacier also threatened a partial collapse, after which extra surveillance measures were put in place.

A study last year by Swiss scientists found that Alpine glaciers could shrink between 65 and 90 percent this century, depending on how effectively the world can curb greenhouse gas emissions.

www.breitbart.com

Italy resort lifts alert on melting glacier threat - Breitbart

Rome (AFP) - An Italian Alpine resort on Sunday lifted a state of alert declared last week over fears that a chunk of glacier on the Mont Blanc mountain
www.breitbart.com www.breitbart.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top