Mont Blanc glacier weighing 245MILLION kilos ‘could collapse’ sparking evacuation – and climate change is being blamed
ITALIAN authorities have shut down roads and evacuated mountain huts over fears parts of Mont Blanc could collapse.
A gigantic glacier on the mountain range's south side is sliding up to 60cm a day, threatening to dump 245,000 tonnes of ice on the surrounding area.
Mont Blanc is Western Europe's highest mountain range with 11 peaks topping 4,000 feet high.
It attracts thousands of tourists every year in winter and summer.
Officials told the about 250,000 cubic metres of ice are in danger of breaking from the Planpincieux glacier on southern slopes of the Grandes Jorasses peak.
The Mayor of Courmayeur, the nearest town and a major ski resort, reckons global warming may be to blame.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mayor Stefano Miserocchi said he had closed roads in the Val Ferret valley on the Italian side of Mont Blanc.
Mountain huts in the nearby Rochefort area have been evacuated as a precaution.
Mr Miserocchi said there was "no threat" to residential areas or tourist facilities.
He told the Italian media: "These phenomena once again show how the mountain is going through a period of major change due to climate factors and, therefore, it is particularly vulnerable."
Experts from the Valle d'Aosta regional government and the Fondazione Montagna Sicura (Safe Mountain Foundation) warned that it was impossible to predict when the glacier will collapse.
Scientists have kept a close eye on the Planpincieux glacier since 2013.
Over the past few years, several avalanches have threatened the hamlet of Planpincieux, which sits at the bottom of the valley, right below the glacier.
Rising global temperatures are causing the melting of mountain glaciers and the retreat of polar ice sheets across the globe.
Climate change explained
Here are the basic facts...
- Scientists have lots of evidence to show that the Earth’s climate is rapidly changing due to human activity
- Climate change will result in problems like global warming, greater risk of flooding, droughts and regular heatwaves
- Each of the last three decades have been hotter than the previous one and 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have happened during the 21st century
- The Earth only needs to increase by a few degrees for it to spell disaster
- The oceans are already warming, polar ice and glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising and we’re seeing more extreme weather events
- In 2015, almost all of the world's nations signed a deal called the Paris Agreement which set out ways in which they could tackle climate change and try to keep temperatures below 2C
Shocking images last month revealed a huge glacier in Iceland had "died" due to soaring temperatures in the Arctic.
The large Okjökull glacier has now vanished despite once measuring 16 square kilometres.
In April, scientists warned that two thirds of ice in the Alps could melt by 2100 due to climate change.
Even if carbon emissions dropped all the way to zero by 2050, researchers still think it would be too late to save the glaciers.
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In other news, sea level ‘doomsday’ simulator reveals whether your home would be wiped out by rising oceans.
Parts of Europe could disappear as Nasa warns Antarctica is melting 6 times faster than it was 40 years ago.
And experts think climate change could cause areas of the ocean to turn a "deep green" colour by 2100.
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