La ricerca glaciologica: tendenze e proposte (Relazione introduttiva al 5° Convegno Glaciologico Italiano)

The glaciological research: trends and proposals (Introduction to the 5^th Italian Glaciological Meeting)

Abstract

The main characteristic of the present state of the glaciological research consists of a very analytical approach to single glacial phenomena with large use of the techniques of modelling. As a consequence, there is a frequent failure in reproducing nature in laboratories. Glacier models are often steady state instead of dynamic. Physics and Chemistry of ice and snow, mechanics of ice mass sliding, hydrological problems of intraglacial and subglacial water flow are the objects of a very fragmentary analysis, chiefly made on the largest glaciated areas of the World. The lack of << environmental studies >> on the glacial phenomenon as a whole get a lower perception of the real behavior of glaciers as a function of their different location in order to climatic, morphological, lithological assessment. Italian scientists give a small contribution to glaciological studies, even if their systematic observations in Alpine and Apenninic areas, which began 84 years ago, have furnished a lot of important data on glacier fluctuations. Some improvements for the organization of the annual observations of glaciers are proposed together with suggestions to enlarge the Italian participation to international working groups on Glaciology