Annual glaciological survey of Italian glaciers (2024); Campagna glaciologica annuale dei ghiacciai italiani (2024)

Chiarle M., Bondesan A., Carturan L., Scotti R., Annual glaciological survey of Italian glaciers (2024). (IT ISSN 0391-9838, 2024). Results of the 2024 annual glaciological survey conducted on Italian glaciers are here presented. More than 160 volunteers, assisted by numerous collaborators, operated last year in the three Alpine sectors (Piemonte-Valle d'Aosta, Lombardia and Triveneto) and in the Apennines (Calderone Glacier, Gran Sasso Group) observing one hundred and eighty-three glaciers. One hundred and ten glaciers were observed in the Piemonte-Valle d'Aosta sector while frontal variation was measured at the snout of thirty-nine glaciers. Twenty-six and forty-eight were visited in the Lombardia Sector and in the Triveneto Sector, respectively (fifteen and forty-one of which were measured, respectively). Mass balance measurements were conducted on nineteen Italian glaciers during the 2023-2024 hydrological year: four glaciers in the Western Alps (Piemonte-Valle d'Aosta Sector), fourteen in the Eastern Alps (three in the Lombardia Sector, the other glaciers in the Triveneto Sector) and one in the Central Apennines. Despite the abundant snowfalls during the accumulation season (with sometimes exceptional values) and a relatively late start and early end of the ablation season, the marked and uninterrupted summer heat has caused another negative year for the Italian glaciers, albeit with a return to conditions more in line with those preceding the disastrous hydrological years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.