Alps Coming Unstuck

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,