The Alps are in serious danger of coming horribly unstuck
according to scientists monitoring the effects of global warming on
permafrost.
Permanent freezing is the mechanism that binds the high mountains
of Europe together starting at around 2500 metres in the Alps and
1500 metres in the Swedish Arctic. Frozen earth can be as solid as
rock and prevents potenitally unstable mountainsides from collapsing
into the valleys below.
A new body, PACE - Permafrost and Climate in Europe - has been set
up to monitor the situation and says that over the last 15 years, the
ground temperature, taken from a borehole above St Moritz in the
Swiss Alps, has risen between half and one degree C.
The effects of further rises are uncertain, but there is already
an increasing problem with rockfall, landslides, slushfall, mudslides
and alluvions in the Alps and a worst case scenario might see entire
mountainsides collapsing into the valleys below with rises in
temperature of only 2 degrees. The process is exacerbated by the
melting of permanent glaciers which allows the rock underneath to
warm more quickly than before.
Climbers and walkers who are becoming increasingly accustomed to
serious rockfall problems in the summer Alps will hardly be surprised
by this latest information, which also has implications for ski
resorts, where lift stations and other stuctures high on the mountain
effectively rely on frozen ground for stability.
For more information see the PACE
web site, this story in the Guardian
newspaper, or this one at the BBC
News site,
