Biodiversity & Environment
Presena Glacier Covered with Tarps
- 22 Jun 2020
- 2 min read
Why in News
Giant sheets of tarpaulin (tarps) are being used to cover Presena glacier in northern Italy to slow melting caused by global warming.
- It is a part of the conservation project (undertaken by Italian firm Carosello-Tonale) which was launched in 2008 — at that point only 30,000 sq metres of the glacier was covered.
Key Points
- Covering of the Glacier:
- Tarpaulin sheets (tarps) are being laid over 1,00,000 sq metres of the Presena glacier.
- Rs. 34,091 tarpaulin sheets will be sewn together once they are stretched over the snow to keep warm air out. Bags of sand are used to weigh them down.
- This six-week process is repeated every year once the ski season is over and summer begins in full force.
- A ski season is a period when skiing, snowboarding and other alpine sports are viable in an alpine resort.
- The process of removing the protective tarps will begin in September, and will take six months.
- Tarpaulin sheets (tarps) are being laid over 1,00,000 sq metres of the Presena glacier.
- Tarpaulin Sheets:
- Tarpaulin is a large sheet of strong, flexible and water-resistant material, often coated and made of plastics such as polyethylene.
- Geotextile tarpaulins reflect sunlight, maintain a temperature lower than the external one, and thus preserve as much snow as possible.
- There are similar glacier cover systems on a few Austrian glaciers, but the surface covered by the tarpaulins is much smaller.
- Concern:
- Since 1993, the Presena glacier has lost more than one third of its volume.
- The area is continuously shrinking, so the efforts are made towards covering the area as much as possible.
Presena Glacier
- Situated between the regions of Trentino and Lombardy in Northern Italy, the glacier is part of the Presanella mountain (Alps) group.
- It has a high altitude natural environment.