Retreat of Mediterranean Glaciers since the Little Ice Age: Case Study of Ghiacciaio del Calderone, Central Apennines, Italy

Responses to climatic changes since the Little Ice Age on Maladeta Glacier (Central Pyrenees)

“…This evolution is in keeping with the trend observed in other alpine Mediterranean glaciers, which have experienced a constant rise of their equilibrium line altitudes during 19th and 20th centuries, as well as associated and prolonged periods of negative mass balances. This has been the case in the small glaciers of the Southern Maritime Alps (Gellatly et al, 1994a;Pappalardo, 1999), the Central Apennines with the Ghiacciaio del Calderone (Gellatly et al, 1994b;D'Orefice et al, 2000), the Sierra Nevada with the Corral del Veleta Glacier (Messerli, 1980;Gó mez Ortiz and Salvador, 1997), and on the northern, climatically Atlantic and more humid Pyrenees (Gellatly et al, 1995;René, 2000). The timing of this deglaciation process is not the same in all alpine Mediterranean areas, due to the importance of local factors such as topography, shading, presence or absence of debris-cover or particular topoclimatic conditions, but the general tendency towards reduction of the surface area and thickness, or even glacier extinction, is well evidenced at this macro regional level.…”

Recent behaviour of the Debeli Namet glacier, Durmitor, Montenegro

“…In the Pyrenees, Alps and Italian Appenines, the maximum Little Ice Age extent occurred during the late 18th century AD (D'Orefice et al, 2000;Nesje and Dahl, 2000, p. 141;Grove, 2004, p. 218). In the Karlica valley, several suites of moraines are situated down-valley of the Debeli Namet 1878 AD moraines (DN1).…”

“…Indeed, several other glaciers in the Mediterranean have undergone retreat since the end of the Little Ice Age, including the Corral Veleta in the Sierra Nevada of Spain (Gómez et al, 2003), several glaciers of the Alpes Maritimes (Federici and Pappalardo, 1995;Federici and Stefanini, 2001) and the Calderone glacier in the Gran Sasso of Italy (D'Orefice et al, 2000).…”

“…Only 100 years ago, glaciers were much more extensive than at present in many high mountain areas of the Mediterranean, such as in the Sierra Nevada, Spain (Gómez et al, 2003), the Picos de Europa (González-Trueba, 2004), the Pyrenees (Gellatly et al, 1992;Grove and Gellatly, 1995;Grove, 2004), the Alpes Maritimes (Federici and Pappalardo, 1995;Federici and Stefanini, 2001) and the Italian Appenines (Federici, 1979;Gellatly et al, 1994;D'Orefice et al, 2000;Giraudi, 2005). In many of these areas, the glaciers have since completely disappeared.…”

The Debeli Namet glacier (Durmitor, Montenegro) – from the second half of the 20th century to the present

“…They display similar characteristics: small spatial extents, underdeveloped tongues and widths commonly exceeding their lengths. They have been described as the Pyrenean type (Meccerli 1967) and were studied in the Pyrenees (Grove and Gellatly1995;Grove 2004), in the Sierra Nevada (Gómez et al 2003), in Picos de Europa (González-Trueba 2004) in Spain, in the Alpes Maritimes in France (Federici and Stefanini 2001), in the Italian Apennines (D'Orefice et al 2000;Dramis et al 2002;D'Alessandro et al 2003;Pecci 2006;Pecci et al 2008), in the Slovenian Alps ([ifrer 1976;Tintor 1993;Gams 1994;Gabrovec 1998;Pav{ek 2007;Triglav ^ekada et al 2012), in Durmitor Mountains in Montenegro (Djurovi} 1996;1999;2010), in Prokletije Mountains in Albania (Milivojevi} et al 2007;Hughes 2008), in Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria Gachev 2009;Gachev et al 2009;Grünewald and Scheithauer 2010) and elsewhere. Several smaller glaciers existed beyond the Debeli Namet glacier during the LIA on Durmitor Mountain but subsequently disappeared (Hughes 2010).…”