Italy covers glacier with giant tarp to stop melting
Scientists have covered Italy's Presena glacier with a giant cloth tarp in an attempt to stop it from melting.
Climate experts hope to save 70 per cent of the glacier over the northern summer, Reuters reports.
The protective covering - deployed in five-metre-wide and 70-metre-long strips - will cover about 120,000 sqm of the glacier when the rollout is finished later this month.
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The Presena glacier in northern Italy has been covered in a giant cloth tarp to mitigate the effects of global warming. Getty
Studying melting glaciers offers gives scientists an important insight into the effects of climate change.
Glaciologist Christian Casarotto, of the Trento science museum in northern Italy, said glacier mass had been falling continuously over the past 15 to 20 years.
"Glaciers and their retreat are perhaps the most striking manifestation of ongoing global warming," Dr Casarotto said.
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Climate change experts cover the Presena glacier in Italy with giant strips of cloth to try and stop melting. Twitter
"Studying glaciers therefore becomes important in order to understand the direction in which we are heading and to be able to correct it."
Other countries are also dealing with the impact of climate change on glaciers.
Earlier this year in India scores of people died when a Himalayan glacier broke off and sent a wall of water and debris rushing down a mountain.
A partial glacier collapse caused a disaster in the Indian state of Uttrakhund.in early 2021. National Disaster Response Force via AP
The flood was caused when a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier in Uttrakhund state, northern India. snapped off in February, releasing water trapped behind it.
Experts said the disaster could be linked to global warming.
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