Freezing Point In Swiss Alps 1,200 Meters Higher Than Average

[hatrack]

Glaciers melting in heatwave
07/08/2003 20:55 - (SA)

GENEVA - "Towering abvove the heart of Europe, the Alps are crumbling and the glaciers are melting under the assault of the record summer heatwave in Switzerland.

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(But) the heatwave carried by winds from Africa has more devastating consequences in the mountains, shifting the freezing point to a much higher altitude and melting the ice that normally binds rockfaces together at the height of the climbing season.

On Thursday, the zero degree mark in the Alps stood at an altitude of 4,200m, well above the more usual 3,000 or so metres in summer.

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While some degree of melting icecaps and glaciers during the summer months is normal, the swathes of flowing white ice which cover some high valleys are receding at a faster rate than usual. "Most Alpine glaciers are in the phase of strong retreat at the moment and they have been for the last 10 or fifteen years, (ed. - Climatologist Martin) Beniston said, adding that they had been pushed back more than any time in the last 500 years."

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From SA News 24

[FlashHarry]

1. I wonder what the receding glaciers will reveal...

...a few years back, near Chamonix, the Mont Blanc glacier receded to reveal an Indian Air Lines Lockheed Constellation that had crashed into the mountain in the fifties.


Date: November 03, 1950
Time: 09:43
Location: Mont Blanc, France
Operator: Air India
Flight #: 109
Route: Cairo - Geneva
AC Type: Lockheed 749 Constellation
Registration: VT-CQP
cn / ln: 2506
Aboard: 48   (passengers:40  crew:8)
Fatalities: 48   (passengers:40  crew:8)
Ground: 0
Summary: The aircraft crashed in a snowstorm 200 meters below Mont Blanc summit.

[hatrack]

2. And let's not forget the Iceman!

Possibly the world's first forensically verified murder victim!

[Atlant]

3. Jimmy Hoffa. (NT)