The disappearing glaciers of Mont Blanc
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- Part of the Shear Zone Channel. Follow Rob as he visits old haunts in the French Alps - to witness the dramatic shrinking of famous glaciers in the Mont Blanc massif, French Alps. Centuries ago these flowed into the Chamonix Valley and long since had retreated back into the hills. But rapid melting caused by rapidly increasing summer temperatures is having a big impact now. The changes since I first visited the Mer de Glace, Bossons, Argentiere and Tour glaciers are staggering. It's not a happy story.
It's worth checking the book "Mer de Glace: art et science" (Nussbaumer et al., 2012)....
#glacier #climatechange #alps #geology
![Tour du Mont Blanc [2024]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pk2v9uMyXhM/mqdefault.jpg)
As someone who was on the summit of the Mont Blanc 2 months ago , I can confirm that he nature has really changed. I was comparing the views from the Gouter Hut with the pictures on the wall in this hut..
From mid July the Gouter route has been basically shut down because of incessant rock-fall in the Couloir.😰
Thank you for this very clear explanation and visualization of what's happening up there.
Chamonix must have been An amazing place to visit not so long ago.
It still is.... especially if you get up onto the hills and away from the crowded (and at times smoggy) valley....
So sad to see this. My first alpine mountaineering trip was in 1981 to Bernina. I took pictures from Piz Morteratsch looking across to the Biancograt ridge. The modern images show the same snow and ice retreat. Same at the Konkordia hut which I saw from the Konkordia platz 25 years ago, the hut used to be at the edge of the glacier, but there were long ladders to get from the glacier to it 25 years ago - it will only be worse now.
yes - its the same all over the Alps…..
Excellent videos.Thanks
Glad you liked it...
Can't believe how the Mer de Glace has changed since I was there in 2012 - the Forbes bands were a really striking feature up by the corner but you really can't see them now. Meant to go there this summer to take a look but waiting for cataract op!
I also messed around ice climbing on the Bossons glacier, a short walk from the village in the mid 70s. Now its a pretty long walk.... I spent time around there this summer, and you could hear the Taconnez glacier (next one along) rumbling all the time. It was 30C tho....
Yes - certainly a hot season (again) this year.... and the Taconnaz glacier system is in a really poor state, loads of rock-fall onto it from the Dome du Gouter slopes, now exposed as the higher icefalls have melted back. Of course, the Italian side of the mountain has seen even more dramatic glacier shrinkage and retreat.... I once walked across ice near the snout of the Miage as it flowed into Val Veni... long since now a boulder-field.....
@@davidwright7193 Indeed - the seracs above can be pretty nasty...
Thank you very much for such a great video! However concerning, the interesting narrative brought back good memories of Structural Geology classes.
I'm right now in Chamonix. I saw many people swimming naked in the mountain lakes, si I did it too: the water was not cold at all ! Yes, it's nice, but it's not normal (usually you have to be courageous to dive in cold water), and it's not good for the nature (and of course for the glaciers). We should have rain this afternoon.
I was in Chamonix just last month and around July 16th my daughter and I wanted to go down the Aiguille du Midi ridge and cross over to Punta Heilbronner on the Italian side. Many parts of the Vallee Blanche were bare ice and so many snow bridges across crevasses had collapsed that local guides stopped tracing the route because it was becoming impossible. As we went down the ridge, we saw the bergschrund at the bottom of the Aiguille du Midi ridge had opened up to an extent that some parties were just turning around not even making it off the ridge. The ridge itself was a troubling combination of bare ice covered by an inch of sludge. When in July 2019 I cramponned down confidently on a ridge that allowed some space for parties to pass each other single file, in July 2022 I felt extremely uncomfortable descending and parties could only pass when one side was willing to step off the ridge and front-point into the side of the ridge while the other party passed ... which is no fun at that exposed site. It was mid-July but it felt as a climbing season that was already over now rather than in September.
good, in a few years it is full of beautiful trees and grass. Just like it was 1000 years ago. The process started about 200 years ago.
(the current glacier is still a result of the 'little ice age' in the late middle-ages. This little ice-age resulted in failing harvests, malnutrition and diseases and the lower ice crushed complete mountain villages.)
I would have loved to see the glaciers when they reached the valley! I remember the first time I saw Mer de glace in 2017, and being a bit disappointed by how it didn't look like a sea of ice at all! But I am still glad that I have seen them, something my grand children may not. What can we do to preserve what is left, or is it already too late for them?
The three stills: the first is from the Aig. Geant - Aig.Rochefort in early August. The other two are of the Droites and Verte (from near the Argentiere hut) both taken first week in September. I took the photographs (and was climbing there at the time... lots of snow!). Not aware of any agenda to close the valley to tourists at the moment .... and certainly not the intention of the video... go to Chamonix now to see the glaciers before (apart from the highest parts) they are gone...
this is heart wrenching
indeed - terrible
Your last comment, that the rate of retreat is increasing, is what I would like to hear more about in this discussion please. It's no surprise that ice melts in an Alpine Summer, and it has been doing so for a very long time. Look at the volume of melt water in those torrents - of course the glaciers will shrink. I'm surprised it's not by more. But is this because of a combination of hotter Summers and less snowfall in Winter, or just the former? Are there glaciers in other parts of the World that are growing and if so, why? Thanks for your very interesting film.
The year on year shrinking of the Mer de Glace is very well documented (and out there in lots of videos - they Google) - the loss in thickness of the glacier at Montenvers has certainly accelerated in the past 20 years. As this is at the front then presumably it's down principally to melting more than reduced snowfall ... though even the high glaciers have thinned .... Others can fill in the details.
Barry, the research on alpine glaciers globally indicates that 99% of all the world’s mountain glaciers are retreating rapidly. There are only a couple of documented advancing glaciers. One of them is Hubbard Glacier, in Alaska. It’s only advancing because most of its surface area is over 8,000 feet, and because of increasing prescription with warmer winters, its accumulation zone is still building mass. However, even Hubbard glacier has now reached equilibrium and may no longer be advancing. In the next 100 years, it’s entirely possible that the only visible ice in Chamonix will be waaay up on the upper mountain, above the level of the Aiguille du Midi.
The other thing to remember is that the “little ice age” ends in the 1830’s or 40’s a decade or two after the steam powered industrial revolution really gets going. Did it really end or did it just get overwhelmed by the beginning of global warming?
Fair point though I'd reckon that end of Little Ice Age happened a bit too early... for sure global CO2 emissions doubled from c 1850 to 1900 , but the real growth happens through 20th C, and then 21stC...climbing steadily to c 1950 and then sky-rocket.... (incidentally, for the sceptics checking in, even the energy companies accept these data).
@@robbutler2095 but CO2 levels were way way higher 3000 yrs ago than today. verified by core ice sample analysis. and in the times of the ice ages, they were higher. so is CO2 really causing warming. is it is just cyclical change we're experiencing.?
but not all glaciers in the world are melting ! so how do we explain that?? im curious. some glaciers are even growing. thermal ice in the Artic has been steady for the last 20+ yrs of records.
these Mt Blanc glaciers re also very low. could it be underground thermo energy in this region, not yet studied, that might be causing the melt off.
Very few glaciers are growing (remember - glaciers also chart precipitation, not just heating, and increased precipitation in places is climate change... even in a globally heating World). Arctic sea ice extent is shrinking at 13% per annum - see NASA (their graph of annual minimum extents). Of course sea ice melt contributes nothing to sea-level change. Alpine heat flow at Mont Blanc very well studied (not least via the road tunnel)... Incidentally - check out the Himalayas - Karakoram glaciers - also rapidly receding but I've not been there this summer to report first hand.
Hello rob , good explanation on our disappearing glaciers , shows the stark reality of climate change , was there some years ago and camped in a local campsite , remembering leaving my bottle of milk in a , cold stream that flowed from one of the glaciers .
Very sad 😔 so different to 20 years ago
Thanks again for your videos. I love your work. I do hope that people use your work to understand climate change over an extended time and not just for today. Just think what the Lake District must of looked like at one time?
Thanks. Once glaciers start declining it seems that they can go really quickly... Let's hope the high ones like the Vallee Blanche survive in the Alps. The lower parts are doomed I fear.
I have been climbing and skiing in the Chamonix valley since the early eighties. I have seen these changes. It is very sad.
A poor reflection on us humans.
A poor reflection on us humans.!? Not true, better get educated before you write bs down
Nice video, but improve sound please next time. It is so quiet.
Yea cycles show the earth constantly cools and warms. There have been plenty of examples in the past where there were no polar ice. There are also many examples of a much colder world time and time again.
It is what it is. The climate has always changed long before humans and will continue to change long after humans.
" It is what it is" . What an assine comment. The change is caused by us humans. We need to do something about it.
@@jamesthomas4841 false… human causes is the asinine comment and we all know there is not a damn thing anyone can do, just live and adapt like everyone before us had to do…the arrogance and stupidity is astounding but typical of todays world with the daily brainwashing
hey einstein. please, if you don't understand anything, keep your opinion for you. there is a massiv difference between a long change in thousands of years, and a dramatic change in a century. If you don't have the IQ to understand the equations, don't speak about it. this is not a matter of opinion. These are facts. And such a massiv change in such a short time has never been seen. You are obviously not inform on the subject, so please, keep your stupidity for you, learn, and then come back. Do you really think, dumb idiot, that the scientist who are studiying this subject didn't think about it? do you really think that your argument never came to the ears of the scientist? do you really think that you are smarter than the totality of the scientists specialized in this subject?? the fact that you think you are allowed to say such dumb things mean that i don't have to respect you, because you don't respect other people by allowing yourself to say stupidity without making the effort to inform before. so yes i don't respect you, and you are an absolute idiot.
@@steviewonder8624
" human causes...we all know there is not a damn thing we can do about it..."
If humans are causing the problem then it follows we can do something about it. Any other response is simply stupidity disguised as cynicism.
No serious person questions that earth's climate has changed considerably throughout the past. It's the rate of change not the change itself that is concerning.
The title and initial image do not match. Kinda expected a photo of Mont Blanc, not a generic French Alpes photo. But, yes, Mont Blanc’s glaciers are retreating uphill, … like everywhere.
It's a view up the Mer de Glace...
This is a photo of the Mont Blanc massif, with the Mer de Glace in the centre, Argentiere glacier valley extreme left beyond the Verte/Dru ridge. Photo taken from Aiguilles Rouge. Exactly the perfect image.
Im glad the glaciers aren't getting bigger.
It is normal in Earth history. Don't be stupid
hey einstein. please, if you don't understand anything, keep your opinion for you. there is a massiv difference between a long change in thousands of years, and a dramatic change in a century. If you don't have the IQ to understand the equations, don't speak about it. this is not a matter of opinion. These are facts. And such a massiv change in such a short time has never been seen. You are obviously not inform on the subject, so please, keep your stupidity for you, learn, and then come back. Do you really think, dumb idiot, that the scientist who are studiying this subject didn't think about it? do you really think that your argument never came to the ears of the scientist? do you really think that you are smarter than the totality of the scientists specialized in this subject?? the fact that you think you are allowed to say such dumb things mean that i don't have to respect you, because you don't respect other people by allowing yourself to say stupidity without making the effort to inform before. so yes i don't respect you, and you are an absolute idiot.
It's always the same "stupid" argument from you people. No one is concerned about the change in climate but with the rate at which it is occurring.
OK, melting rapidly
Still have seen no definite explanation for why the ice age ended 10,000~ years ago other then vague hypothesis such as axial tilt etc.
No explanation for the little ice age in your clip.
We know its dynamic for sure.
How co2 can break the first law of thermodynamics and do extra work is beyond me.
Its truly magic stuff.
Nothing is breaking the first law of thermodynamics dude. I think you might need to read up on some physics. Because if you did, you'd understand why more CO2 in the atmosphere implies the Earth is more effective at capturing energy from sunlight.
@@frankwitte1022 and so why has the measured levels of ice in the artic remained consistent for 20+ yrs or more. ie its NOT melting. and seas havent risen. lots of predictions have not come true. could it be underground thermal energy in the chamonix valley thats not studied or known, that might be causing the melt off? shouldn't ALL glaciers around the world be melting too???? they are NOT all melting. some are growing. needs more and better analysis !
Why does less snow = bad? I respect you boomers but you need to expect and tolerate change...
1 - it's a symptom of evolving environments responding to climate change...
2 - many people and their industries depend on snow being sustained beyond a few weeks in mid-winter ...
3 - mountain snow and glaciers modulate discharge into river systems... the Alps source most of the major rivers of Europe... just see what's happened to the Po in Italy this summer (in part
because very little glacier left on the Italian (south-facing) side of the Alps)....
.... and many more reasons....
Doom and gloom
Exactly. You can’t reason with these lefties and Klaus Schwab supporters.
Exactly
Well, unfortunately life isn't just roses and sunshine ;)
Let's just bury our heads in the sand and pretend that humans aren't having an effect on the earth's climate.
Really it’s just a video about nothing…nothing unusual just nature as the glaciers have been coming and going forever..it’s just that human life is only a fly shit in time.
but if you want to see the glaciers, go there now!
hey einstein. please, if you don't understand anything, keep your opinion for you. there is a massiv difference between a long change in thousands of years, and a dramatic change in a century. If you don't have the IQ to understand the equations, don't speak about it. this is not a matter of opinion. These are facts. And such a massiv change in such a short time has never been seen. You are obviously not inform on the subject, so please, keep your stupidity for you, learn, and then come back. Do you really think, dumb idiot, that the scientist who are studiying this subject didn't think about it? do you really think that your argument never came to the ears of the scientist? do you really think that you are smarter than the totality of the scientists specialized in this subject?? the fact that you think you are allowed to say such dumb things mean that i don't have to respect you, because you don't respect other people by allowing yourself to say stupidity without making the effort to inform before. so yes i don't respect you, and you are an absolute idiot.
@@rvpgkf actually no, there are no laws or rules on how long nature must take to change something. That is a false argument in an attempt to attribute the change to man. Nature can produce large dramatic changes.
@@robbutler2095 cheers Rob, but I’ve seen plenty of glaciers all around the world. From Antarctica to Svalbard…Many are shrinking, some dramatically so and others are growing. Thanks for documenting the changes.
@@steviewonder8624 correct. some are growing. if global warming is a real thing... than ALL glaciers MUST all be melting by logical scientific fact. but they are NOT ! something else must be accounting for this melt off in this area. IMO.
polar caps have not melted away as they told us. nor have seas risen. Australian navy has Sydney harbour Sea level records for the last 100 yrs... and seas have NOT risen ! hmmmm.