Climate change and rapid ice melt: Suggestions from abrupt permafrost degradation and ice melting in an alpine ice cave
Among the different elements of the mountain cryosphere, ice caves still represent the lesser known part of it. Here we present a seven-year-long record of air and rock temperature in a cave of the southeastern European Alps. We demonstrate how the presence of a permanent ice deposit in the cave is...
Published in: | Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11383/2152851 https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133319846056 |
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ftuninsubriairis:oai:irinsubria.uninsubria.it:11383/2152851 2024-04-14T08:12:53+00:00 Climate change and rapid ice melt: Suggestions from abrupt permafrost degradation and ice melting in an alpine ice cave Colucci R. R. Guglielmin M. Colucci, R. R. Guglielmin, M. 2019 ELETTRONICO https://hdl.handle.net/11383/2152851 https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133319846056 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000478609400005 volume:43 issue:4 firstpage:561 lastpage:573 numberofpages:13 journal:PROGRESS IN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY https://hdl.handle.net/11383/2152851 doi:10.1177/0309133319846056 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85066864604 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Alp climate change cryosphere ice cave Permafrost info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2019 ftuninsubriairis https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133319846056 2024-03-21T19:13:50Z Among the different elements of the mountain cryosphere, ice caves still represent the lesser known part of it. Here we present a seven-year-long record of air and rock temperature in a cave of the southeastern European Alps. We demonstrate how the presence of a permanent ice deposit in the cave is not only related to the net cooling effect of the air circulation, as it is well known, but also to the occurrence of relict permafrost. Through a detailed representation of temperature patterns inside the cave, both air and rock data show how after a period of perennially subzero (cryotic) conditions in the rock, ongoing anthropogenic climate warming is responsible for permafrost degradation despite the cooling effect of the air circulation in the cave. Data support the important role of cryotic conditions in the rock in preserving a permanent ice cave deposit in the present climate, even once the possible relict permafrost inherited from the past disappears. A thickness of 29–44 m of permafrost, possibly formed during the Little Ice Age, has now almost completely disappeared. The present abrupt ice degradation observed in this cave is further exacerbated by positive feedbacks related to warmer air circulation in the cave system. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice permafrost IRInSubria - Institutional Repository Insubria (Università degli Studi dell’Insubria) Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 43 4 561 573 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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IRInSubria - Institutional Repository Insubria (Università degli Studi dell’Insubria) |
op_collection_id |
ftuninsubriairis |
language |
English |
topic |
Alp climate change cryosphere ice cave Permafrost |
spellingShingle |
Alp climate change cryosphere ice cave Permafrost Colucci R. R. Guglielmin M. Climate change and rapid ice melt: Suggestions from abrupt permafrost degradation and ice melting in an alpine ice cave |
topic_facet |
Alp climate change cryosphere ice cave Permafrost |
description |
Among the different elements of the mountain cryosphere, ice caves still represent the lesser known part of it. Here we present a seven-year-long record of air and rock temperature in a cave of the southeastern European Alps. We demonstrate how the presence of a permanent ice deposit in the cave is not only related to the net cooling effect of the air circulation, as it is well known, but also to the occurrence of relict permafrost. Through a detailed representation of temperature patterns inside the cave, both air and rock data show how after a period of perennially subzero (cryotic) conditions in the rock, ongoing anthropogenic climate warming is responsible for permafrost degradation despite the cooling effect of the air circulation in the cave. Data support the important role of cryotic conditions in the rock in preserving a permanent ice cave deposit in the present climate, even once the possible relict permafrost inherited from the past disappears. A thickness of 29–44 m of permafrost, possibly formed during the Little Ice Age, has now almost completely disappeared. The present abrupt ice degradation observed in this cave is further exacerbated by positive feedbacks related to warmer air circulation in the cave system. |
author2 |
Colucci, R. R. Guglielmin, M. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Colucci R. R. Guglielmin M. |
author_facet |
Colucci R. R. Guglielmin M. |
author_sort |
Colucci R. R. |
title |
Climate change and rapid ice melt: Suggestions from abrupt permafrost degradation and ice melting in an alpine ice cave |
title_short |
Climate change and rapid ice melt: Suggestions from abrupt permafrost degradation and ice melting in an alpine ice cave |
title_full |
Climate change and rapid ice melt: Suggestions from abrupt permafrost degradation and ice melting in an alpine ice cave |
title_fullStr |
Climate change and rapid ice melt: Suggestions from abrupt permafrost degradation and ice melting in an alpine ice cave |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate change and rapid ice melt: Suggestions from abrupt permafrost degradation and ice melting in an alpine ice cave |
title_sort |
climate change and rapid ice melt: suggestions from abrupt permafrost degradation and ice melting in an alpine ice cave |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11383/2152851 https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133319846056 |
genre |
Ice permafrost |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000478609400005 volume:43 issue:4 firstpage:561 lastpage:573 numberofpages:13 journal:PROGRESS IN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY https://hdl.handle.net/11383/2152851 doi:10.1177/0309133319846056 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85066864604 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133319846056 |
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Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment |
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43 |
container_issue |
4 |
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561 |
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573 |
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