Italy’s Alps could lose 80 percent of their snow by 2060

The media reported that scientists have confirmed that changes in the snow cover of the Alps in Italy can be seen with the naked eye.

According to Italian news agency ANSA, based on data from Greenpeace Italy’s environment branch and scientists from the Italian Glaciology Group (CGI), 80 percent of the snow in the Italian Alps could disappear by 2060, giving way to new ones. droughts.

Experts have completed the first expedition to the glacier of Forni Valley in Stelvo National Park. Also, “It is losing more than 50 percent of its thickness as a result of melting compared to 2022, and it will disappear completely by 2060. In the days of August 21-24 alone, this ice sheet is 37 cm thick, and this is higher than the previous daily rate, which 6 cm today.

According to scientists, these variables are visible to the naked eye: since the mid-19th century, the Forni ice has lost about 10 square kilometers, or half, and the ice front retreated 400 meters within 10 years.

A source from the Italian Glacier Commission said: “Projections based on our climate scenarios indicate that by 2060, up to 80 percent of the snow cover in the Italian Alps will disappear, which will have a significant impact on the amount of meltwater. This means that without this snow, we will face increasingly severe droughts in this valley in 30-40 years.

A second expedition is planned to start at the end of August to Meek Glacier in the Aosta Valley.