The detachment of a glacier is “a risk amplified by global warming”warns on Sunday July 3 on franceinfo the glaciologist and former vice-president of the Giec, Jean Jouzel, after the collapse of the Marmolada glacier causing an avalanche which left at least six dead and eight injured.
franceinfo: Is the collapse of a glacier a rare phenomenon?
Jean Jouzel: It is still a rare phenomenon, at least in the Alps. But in areas like the Himalayas, it can be more common. Because of global warming, there are these problems in the summer season now. This creates a weakening of the rock walls and the adhesion of the glaciers to it.
Yesterday, it was 10 degrees in this Marmolada massif. Is this the cause of the glacier’s collapse?
This is most likely the cause. There is a link between this peak of heat and the detachment of the glacier or say of a large block of ice. I believe that we understand this well, especially since this global warming is more significant in these mountainous regions than elsewhere. We are there around 3,000 meters above sea level, this warming is very marked and it is a risk which we fear will increase with global warming. Two years ago, the Planpincieux glacier, in the Mont-Blanc massif, on the Italian side, threatened to break away. An evacuation was then decided but not in the present case. So this risk is well documented.
Usually, there are measures that predict the risk. Can we know when the ice will crack?
Yes, I think we have to be more and more attentive to these risks. This is prevention work that was well done two years ago in Planpincieux. Either way, we can’t avoid the detachment of the glacier.
“The only solution is to evacuate or at least to deny access to these fragile mountainous regions, there is no other choice.”
Jean Jouzel, glaciologist and former vice-president of the IPCCat franceinfo
Are we helpless in the face of this kind of problem?
The best way would already be to limit global warming. It is clear that the recent IPCC report with an entire chapter on glaciers says that in these mountainous regions these risks will increase with climate change. So these are now summer risks. There is also of course winter with the reduction of the season which causes the retreat of the glaciers.
Are there ways, in the short term, to consolidate these glaciers to avoid such collapses?
I don’t think there are any possibilities. I think the best way is prevention. Pay close attention to all the rock walls which are fragile. Mountaineers know it, some hesitate to go in these regions which are fragile where the block of ice moves. But we cannot prevent these collapses. I believe that above all it is necessary to document the mountainous regions at risk, the periods at risk – and the summer periods are one of them. Once this documentation is well established, we can prohibit certain regions from frequentation and simply leave access to very knowledgeable people, and again. The warming is there so we cannot avoid this risk, we are not going to prevent a glacier from detaching.