Warning: Ice Blocks Covering Alps Began to Disappear in Europe  

Recently, the global environmental organizations have warned that ice blocks covering Alps began to disappear in Europe. Also, they launched a resounding cry out of global climate degradation and sounded alarmed bells to alert the countries that this deterioration could have catastrophic consequences as carbon emissions increase.

The climate change is the hottest and most urgent issue for the international community today, given that climate change could have serious future impacts and implications; not least the droughts of some rivers, the sinking of large swathes of coastal areas, and the shifting of the map of the world’s agricultural production zones.

Warmest October worldwide

The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, which analyses temperature data from around the planet, reported that last month was the warmest October throughout the world since climate records began. The average temperature was 0.6 °C above the average of every October in the 30-year span from 1981-2010. According to the Austrian weather website wetter.at, last month was the fifth month in a row that exceeded previous record temperatures.

October 2019 temperature, precipitation, and sea ice cover:

• Globally, October was 0.69°C warmer than the average October from 1981-2010, making it by a narrow margin the warmest October in this data record.
• Europe generally saw above-average temperatures, with the exception of most of the north and north-west of the continent. Below-average temperatures occurred over much of Norway and Sweden, and over the far east of the continent.
• Most of western and northern Europe experienced wetter than average conditions whereas drier than average conditions prevailed in eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region, while extreme weather events, including Typhoon Hagibis, led to rainfall anomalies.
• In the Arctic, sea ice extent was very low, reaching either its second-lowest or its lowest value for October in the last 41 years, the ranking depending on the data set considered.

The average global temperature on Earth has increased by about 0.8 °C

since 1880, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). Nevertheless, the problem seems deeper and more complicated in the Alps.

Warming increasing in the Alps

The International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA) said that temperatures in the Alps have risen by just under 2°C over the past 120 years, almost twice as much as the global average. And they are set to rise even more as researchers predict a further 2°C increase over the next forty years.

CIPRA indicated that in recent decades, many Alpine glaciers have shrunk to half their former size and are projected to continue to decline in almost all regions throughout the 21st century. By the end of the century all the glaciers of the Alps, with a few exceptions, may well have melted away.

Several global studies found that there is an increasing occurrence of mass movements due to rising temperatures in the European Alps. There are two major changes that can be observed at the summit of the Kitzsteinhorn, intensive glacier retreat and a general decline in low-elevation snow cover and permafrost, as a result of climate change in recent decades.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC) has stated that tourism and recreation activities such as skiing, glacier tourism, and mountaineering have been negatively impacted by declining snow cover. Furthermore, cultural assets, such as snow- and ice-covered peaks in many Unesco World Heritage sites, and tourism and recreation activities, are expected to be negatively affected by a future cryospheric change in many regions.

Sustainable solutions

Climate change is likely to have negative effects on nearly all the ecosystems in the Alps in the longer run. These include biopersity conservation, forestry, agriculture, tourism, energy, and industry.

These dramatic changes, however, have been effective in raising awareness of the changing conditions of high mountain areas. Integrated management measures in particular for energy, agriculture, ecosystems and water supply can contribute effectively to a reduction in global warming and climate change mitigation while complying with the principle of sustainability.

Nevertheless, success in implementing such management options depends on the participation of relevant stakeholders, including affected communities, perse knowledge, and adequate tools for monitoring and projecting future conditions, as well as financial and institutional resources to support planning and implementation.

One of these re-naturing measures was conducted in the Kitzsteinhorn by Gletscherbahnen AG. Due to glacial retreat and climate change, efficient snow-making has become essential all the way up to the edge of the glacier. Since the year 2000, the company has invested €24 million in the expansion of snow-making coverage, thus guaranteeing ski operations and the economic viability of the company itself.

The complex snow-making system is fed and powered by big, virtually inexhaustible reservoirs behind the Kaprun hydroelectric dams. In 2011, the Grubbach pumping station and power plant were built.

In winter, it functions as a pumping station, while between May and October the system is reversed. The pumping station then serves as a turbine, using the water from the snow-melt to generate electricity, thereby producing much of the power required for snow-making in winter.