On the border between the Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige regions, the Presena glacier has lost more than one third of its volume since 1993 and is continually shrinking, according to scientists.
Once the ski season comes to an end, conservationists race to try and stop the glacier from melting by using white tarps that block the sun’s rays.
“The idea was born from an experimental program with the universities of Trento and Milan to reduce melting,” Davide Panizza, who heads the Carosello-Tonale company that does the work, told Italian news agency ANSA.
“They have the function of reflecting the sunlight to maintain a lower temperature underneath.”
From covering around 30,000 square metres in 2008 when the project began, the team of conservationists now place 100,000 square metres under wraps, according to ANSA.
Images and video footage show workers unrolling the sheets in long strips onto the giant glacier, then sewing them together to ensure warm drafts do not slip underneath.
Bags of sand then act as anchors against the wind.
Video: Business Insider Italia
The instalment process takes six weeks; it takes another six weeks to remove the tarps before the beginning of winter.
It seems the effort is paying off: a study by the University of Trento found that in 12 years, the tarps have resulted in “a 52 per cent reduction in melting”.
However, the anti-melting strategy is not limited to just the summer tarps.
In winter, 10 snow cannons with an hourly range of 220 cubic metres come into operation, turning water from a nearby natural reservoir into snow and shooting it across the glacier.
The process lasts until late March and serves to protect the underlying ice.
