An avalanche buried the village
On Thursday, May 29, an avalanche buried the previously evacuated village of Blatten. On a recording made of a drone flying over the village located in the Loetschental valley, you can see the vast plain of mud and earth. Only on its edge can you see the remains of collapsed wooden houses. 90 percent The villages were completely destroyed. Geophysicist Dr. Bartłomiej Luks reminded in an interview with PAP that as a result of a globally growing temperature, glaciers – frozen masses of ice – They melt faster and faster, We don't even say anymore: eternal and long -term coldand with them there is also a long -term cold.
Not eternal anymore, but for many years
– One of the suspicions as to the causes of this avalanche is that growing globally – but also in the area of the Alps – temperatures affected the active layer of many years of cold. For many years, the cold is degraded all over the world – we don't even say: eternal and long -term cold. She gradually disappears wherever she occurs. In this case, most likely the ground of the glacier became less stable and some have sank. It was not just an avalanche of snow and ice, but there was a lot of rock material, most likely associated with the degradation of the long -term frosty layer in the ground of this glacier – said a geophysicist from the Department of Polar Research and Maritime Research of the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
He added that long -term coldness is important when it comes to the stability of the slopes not only in the high mountains, such as the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, but also such as Pyrenees or the Alps. – As long as these rocks are frozen – that is, their temperature is below zero all year round – and water does not penetrate there, they are fairly stable. However, when this frost is degraded, the material becomes less stable and may result in large mass movements such as landslides and mudslides – explained the scientist. Such a long -term cold has been formed for thousands of years.
Threat to cities and villages
Glacjologists monitor melting for years have warned that some Alpine cities and villages may be threatened. The previous catastrophic event related to the detachment of a fragment of the glacier in this region took place at the beginning of July 2022. In the Marmalade massif in the Italian Dolomites, a fragment of the glacier fell then. Just before that at the above 3300 m above sea level, the marmalade peak was recorded by a record high temperature: 10 degrees C. Glacjologist Renato Colucci from the Italian Scientific Research Committee emphasized at that time that in the last decade the glacier reduced its volume by 30 percent. He emphasized that currently glaciers in the Dolomites are in an environment in which they may not survive. The disaster led to the death and disappearance of 11 people. (PAP)
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