Slovenia's Triglav Glacier Has Melted Away Completely

The last section of ice on the Triglav glacier, one of the last in Slovenia, has melted, new photographs of the mountainside confirm, according to The Guardian.

The once-mighty ice mass lost 93% of its area between 1983 and 2003, shrinking to less than one hectare of rock. It then surprised researchers who feared its imminent disappearance by holding on for two more decades. Over the past five years, which included three of the hottest years on record in Europe, the remaining ice melted, leaving only a few isolated patches, and the final remnant of the main mass at the end of summer measured just a few metres across. New photographs of the slope, taken before and after this month's snowfall, confirm that no ice is left.

A loss of data and a national symbol

Matija Zorn, director of the Anton Melik Geographical Institute, said Mount Triglav "occupies a central place in Slovenian national identity," and the glacier's disappearance means the loss of an important source of data and an indicator of climate change. "Every year I realised there would be less and less ice. But every year I was struck by how much less ice remained there," he said.

Triglav is Slovenia's highest peak and a cultural landmark that every person in the country is considered to be expected to climb at least once. Although the glacier is gone, scientists have found ice in caves beneath Triglav, because its retreat opened new passages. A second glacier, on Mount Skuta, has also shrunk and thinned, but the remaining ice is better shielded from the sun than on Triglav and is expected to last a few more years.

Background

In August, Italy closed the Stelvio glacier, the last still-accessible place for summer skiing, because of hot weather. Last year it was reported that over 60 years the Italian Alps lost glaciers with an area equal to that of Lake Como. More in science.