Il Catasto dei Ghiacciai della Provincia di Bolzano

Glacier Inventory of Province of Bolzano (North-eastern Italy)

Abstract

Between 1979 and 1982 the Ufficio Idrografico of the Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano collected all data necessary for a new glacier inventory. The cartography of the glaciers was updated by means of field surveys, specific aerial surveys, and photo-interpretation of the material belonging to the organizing office, collected in September 1975, on the basis of the Istituto Geografico Militare maps (scale 1:25000). This cartography now forms part of the documentation in the Provincial Inventory of Glaciers. The 345 glacier units classified and described in the inventory cover 2 % of the provincial territory, for a total of 153 km². At the date of compilation, the total volume of ice and firn was estimated at 3 510 million m³, corresponding to 2 800 million m³ of water. The survey used special forms prepared by the Ufficio Idrografico, not only reporting the typological and metric data requested by the World Glacier Inventory (instructions updated in 1977 and 1978), but also information on accessibility and notes of interest to tourists. The description of every glacier was accompanied by a list of the photographs taken for the inventory, a short bibliography, and the main glacial units, including hypsographic curves. All data, assembled using the PDP 11/03 computer, are managed by special programs showing all glacier characteristics by single basins, orientation, altitude, or size. Future corrections and updating were considered when creating files. Special care was paid to the possibility of sequential insertion of all future updating for glaciers to be studied in the next few years, next to the data currently stored. These data will represent a key to the interpretation of all climatic and glaciologic changes taking place between 1982 (year of compilation of this inventory) and the year of general updating. The computerized management of such data will thus allow the Bolzano Authorities to streamline information on the glaciers of the province, adding to the static data of the 1982 survey a whole series of new updated material of great interest to workers studying or using glaciers.