The evolution of the Italian glaciers from the previous data base to the new Italian inventory : preliminary considerations and results
Articolo
Data di Pubblicazione:
2015
Citazione:
The evolution of the Italian glaciers from the previous data base to the new Italian inventory : preliminary considerations and results / C. Smiraglia, R.S. Azzoni, C. D’Agata, D. Maragno, D. Fugazza, G.A. Diolaiuti. - In: GEOGRAFIA FISICA E DINAMICA QUATERNARIA. - ISSN 0391-9838. - 38:1(2015 Aug), pp. 737.79-737.87.
Abstract:
A glacier inventory is a fundamental tool for describing and managing
the Alpine glacierized environment and evaluating the impacts of
the ongoing climate change. After the 1959-1962 Italian glacier inventory
published by the Italian Glaciological Committee (CGI) in cooperation
with the National Research Council (CNR), only regional glacier lists
have been developed in Italy, thus giving partial pictures of the evolution
of the Italian glaciers. In this work, we summarized the main results
from the New Italian Glacier Inventory, a national glacier atlas recently
completed and based on the analysis of high resolution color orthophotos
which were acquired in the time frame 2005-2011. In the New Italian
Glacier Inventory 903 glaciers are described, covering a total area of
369.90 km2 ± 2%. The largest part of the glacier coverage is located in the
Aosta Valley Autonomous Region (36.15 % of the total), followed by the
Lombardy Region (23.71 %) and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano
(23.01 %). The highest number of glaciers was found in Lombardy (230),
then in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (212), in the Aosta Valley
Autonomous Region (192), and in the Autonomous Province of Trento km2 covering only the 21% of the total area. Glaciers wider than 1 km2
are 9.4 % of the whole number, but they cover 67.8 % of the total area.
In the widest size class (>10 km2), only three glaciers are found. Only 25
glaciers (2.8 % of the census) were classified as “valley glacier”, while the
largest part (57.3%) was classified as “mountain glacier” and “glacieret”
(40%), thus underlining that the Italian glaciers are spread into several
small ice bodies with few larger glaciers. A first comparison between the
total area reported in the New Italian Glacier Inventory and the value
reported in the CGI –CNR Inventory (1959-1962) suggests an overall
reduction of the glacier coverage of about 30% (from 526.88 km2 in the
Sixties to 369.90 km2 in the present time). A second comparison was
performed with the WGI (World Glacier Inventory) dataset which in the
Eighties listed 1381 Italian glaciers covering a total area of 608.56 km2.
This comparison suggests a loss of 478 glaciers and an area reduction of
238.66 km2 (-39 %).
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
Glacier Inventory, Orthophotos, WebGIS; Alpine glaciers; Italian Alps
Elenco autori:
C. Smiraglia, R.S. Azzoni, C. D’Agata, D. Maragno, D. Fugazza, G.A. Diolaiuti
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