Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, has shrunk by 2.2 meters since 2021 to its lowest level in recent memory.
The mountain, covered by a ridge of ice covering the rock, was surveyed by a survey team from the Haute-Savoie regional administration with the assistance of a drone.
The results published on Thursday suggest that Mont Blanc’s new official height is 4,805.59 meters. The previous measurement two years ago showed a summit height of 4,807.81 meters, which was almost a meter less than the measurement from 2017.
One of the experts involved, Denis Borel, described 2023 as a “somewhat exceptional year,” telling French TV channel TF1 that the mountain had lost “3,500 cubic meters of ice and snow compared to the volume measured in 2021, which is approximately the volume corresponds”. an Olympic swimming pool”. Borel said the loss was “quite significant compared to measurements from previous eras.”
Climate and glaciology experts warned against linking the shrinking of Mont Blanc’s summit to the loss of glacial ice cover in the Alps.
“Even if we see that there is a slight downward trend – about 15 to 20 cm since 2001 – of this snowy peak of Mont Blanc, climatologists and glaciologists tell us that it takes about 50 years of measurements to draw conclusions about possible global impacts “Warning at this altitude of 4,800 meters,” said Borrel. Ice cover on the summit of Europe tends to fluctuate depending on wind and precipitation, he said.
“This is not representative of global climate warming as the climatic conditions at the summit of Mont Blanc are rather polar,” said Luc Moreau, a glaciologist from Chamonix.
Skip the newsletter advertising
Sign up for This is Europe
The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment
“,”newsletterId”:”this-is-europe”,”successDescription”:”The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to the economy to the environment”}” config=”{“renderingTarget”:”Web” } “>Data protection: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertisements and content sponsored by external parties. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter advertising
Moreau described a process called ablation, in which wind accelerates evaporation. “It is mainly the wind and the snow that influence the height of the summit. The wind will remove the snow or not,” he said, adding that Mont Blanc’s summit dome is more like a “dune complex” where strong winter winds strip snow from the summit.
The 2.22 meter drop could be due to lower rainfall in the summer, said Jean des Garets, chief surveyor in the Haute-Savoie department in southeastern France. “Mont Blanc could well be much higher in two years,” he added during the next measurement.
The mountain’s rocky peak measures 4,792 meters above sea level, but its thick ice and snow cover varies in elevation from year to year depending on wind and weather.
Since 2001, researchers have been measuring it every two years in the hope of gaining insight into the effects of climate change on the Alps.
“We collect the data for future generations, we are not here to interpret it, we leave that to the scientists,” said des Garets.
“After these measurement campaigns, we have already learned a lot: We know that the summit is in constant motion, both in height, with fluctuations of almost five meters, and in its position.”
The effects of global warming are well documented in the Alps. Its glaciers have lost a third of their volume in recent years and the mountain has also lost permafrost – soil and rock material that remains continuously frozen for at least two years and acts as a glue for large mountain formations – above an altitude of about 2,200 meters m.