The fluctuations of Italian glaciers during the last century : a contribution to knowledge about Alpine glacier changes
Articolo
Data di Pubblicazione:
2007
Citazione:
The fluctuations of Italian glaciers during the last century : a contribution to knowledge about Alpine glacier changes / M. Citterio, G.A. Diolaiuti, C. Smiraglia, C. D'Agata, T. Carnielli, G. Stella, G.B. Siletto. - In: GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER. SERIES A, PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. - ISSN 0435-3676. - 89:3(2007), pp. 167-184.
Abstract:
This paper describes the recent evolution
of Italian glaciers through an analysis of all
available terminus fluctuation data that the authors
have entered in a glaciers database (named
GLAD) containing 883 records collected on glaciers
from 1908 to 2002. Furthermore, a representative
subset of data (249 glaciers located in Lombardy)
was analysed regarding surface area
changes.
For the analysis of terminus fluctuations, the glaciers
were sorted by size classes according to
length. The data showed that during the 20th century
Italian Alpine glaciers underwent a generalized
retreat, with one distinct and well documented
readvance episode that occurred between the 1970s
and mid-1980s, and a poorly documented one
around the early 1920s. The rates of terminus advance
and retreat have changed without significant
delays for the larger glaciers with respect to the
smaller ones. However, the smaller the glacier, the
more limited the advance (if any) during the 1970s
and early 1980s. The behaviour of glaciers shorter
than 1 km appears to have changed in the last decade,
and between 1993 and 2002 they retreated at a
very high rate.
The analysis of the subset of data led to a quantification
of surface reduction of c. 10% from 1992 to
1999 for glaciers in Lombardy. Small glaciers
proved to contribute strongly to total area loss: in
1999, 232 glaciers (c. 90% of the total) were smaller
than 1 km2, covering 27.2 km2 (less than 30% of the
total area), but accounted for 58% of the total loss in
area (they had lost 7.4 km2).
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
Glacier shrinkage; Italian Alps; Terminus fluctuations
Elenco autori:
M. Citterio, G.A. Diolaiuti, C. Smiraglia, C. D'Agata, T. Carnielli, G. Stella, G.B. Siletto
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