Reconnaissance organized by Cnr and Ca' Foscari University with experts from INGV and the University of Padua in view of the core drilling scheduled for the end of April. From the data emerges the clearest 'picture' of the state of the southernmost glacial body in Europe
About 25 meters of ice hidden by a blanket of stones in the shade of the walls of the Gran Sasso. This is what remains of the Calderone, the southernmost glacial body in Europe and the only one in the Apennines, according to the data provided by the georadar that has traveled its surface in recent days, as part of a campaign to survey and collect ice samples in situ.
If the ice cores of the Calderone prove to be a sufficiently preserved archive, they could aspire to be kept for decades in the 'sanctuary' of suffering mountain glaciers which will be created by the international Ice Memory programme, an initiative co-designed and coordinated in Italy by Carlo Barbante , director of the Polar Sciences Institute of the National Research Council (Cnr-Isp) and professor at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice.
The research activity on Gran Sasso, organized by Cnr-Isp and Ca' Foscari University of Venice in collaboration with experts from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), the University of Padua and the Engeoneering Srls company, is This was made possible thanks to the Department of the Fire Brigade, Public Rescue and Civil Defence, which made helicopters and specialized personnel available to safely reach the basin of the glacier, at the foot of Corno Grande, at an altitude of 2600 metres.
An initial radar profile elaborated by INGV researchers revealed a clear picture: under the debris there is a part of ice mixed with stones and then a few meters of apparently 'cleaner' ice. This is the clearest "photograph" ever taken of the depths of the former Calderone glacier, now glacionevated. The processing of all the data collected through radar and electromagnetic surveys is providing glaciologists with useful information for choosing the most promising point in which to take a deep ice core.
“According to recent estimates, the Calderone loses an average of one meter in thickness every year. The reduction of the volume of ice still present in the next few years could deprive the area of a precious source of water accumulation", says Carlo Barbante, Cnr-Isp director and professor at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. “In addition to water, however, the information on the environment and the climate of the past that the ice preserves and scientists are able to interpret are also in danger".
The next coring mission of the glacial body is scheduled for the second half of April. “The glacial archives of Gran Sasso would thus remain available to future generations of scientists even when the Calderone has definitively disappeared”Barbante concludes.
The activities on the Calderone are part of a series of expeditions for the study and conservation of Italian glaciers financed by the Ministry of University and Research (with the Special Supplementary Fund for Research, Fisr). The Municipality of Pietracamela (Teramo), the Italian Alpine Club (Cai) with the Franchetti refuge, AKU and Karpos also collaborate in the campaign.
Photo 1 - Gran Sasso, credits: Riccardo Selvatico.
Photo 2 - Research activity on the Gran Sasso, Calderone glacier. Credits: Riccardo Selvatico.