Glacial mass balance as indicator of warming climate in a protected area: the case of the Sforzellina Glacier, Stelvio National Park
Claudio Smiraglia, University of Milan (IT)
Glacier mass balance series offer an important instrument to understand and quantify the relationships among warming climate, glacier retreat and landscape change. The Sforzellina Glacier, a small (0.24 km2) cirque glacier in the Stelvio National Park (Italy), has the longest mass balance sequence (1987-2016) in all Italian protected areas. Of 30 years of measurements (field glaciological method), 28 are negative (total thickness reduction of 32 m w.e.). Length and area reduction and strong landscape changes (e.g. new features such as proglacial lakes, moraines, roches moutonnées) followed.