Calderone glacier

"Il Calderone", Europe's southernmost glacier as seen in July 2007, deglaciation has not slowed, making it unlikely the Calderone will survive past 2020

The Calderone glacier (it: Ghiacciaio del Calderone) is the only glacier among Apennines mountain range, located in Gran Sasso d’Italia mountain group. It lies just beneath the Corno Grande, the highest peak in the Apennines.

With the disappearance of the Corral de la Veleta glacier (37° N) in 1913, which lay in Spain's Sierra Nevada, "Il Calderone" became Europe's southernmost known glacier (42°28′N, 13°33′E). If present deglaciation trends continue, the Calderone may soon share Corral de la Veleta's fate. The discovery of a number of small glaciers in the Prokletije in 2009 seemed to threaten Calderone's record; however, the Italian glacier is slightly farther south.^[1]

Historical surface of the glacier

In 1794, the Calderone had an estimated volume of over 4 million cubic metres; by 1916, the glacier’s volume had decreased to 3.3 million cubic metres, and by 1990, it had decreased to 360,931 cubic metres. In 1998 Italian glaciologists at a symposium in L'Aquila predicted that the Calderone would vanish within a few decades.^[2]

Some glaciologists have predicted that the glacier will disappear by 2020. However, 2014 has been slightly positive for the glacier. By the end of August 2014, the volume of residual ice was larger than during the same period in 2013.

Year	Surface m²	Volume m³
Surface and volume of the glacier
1794	104.257	4.332.207
1884	90.886	3.382.166
1916	63.335	3.386.485
1934	59.713	2.461.529
1960	60.030	1.729.934
1990	52.586	360.931
2005	32.900	---
2006	32.700	---
2008	35.545	---

References

↑ Grunewald, K,; Scheithauer, J, (2010), "Europe's southernmost glaciers: response and adaptation to climate change" (PDF), Journal of Glaciology, 56 (195): 129–142
↑ Visconti, Guido; M. Beniston; Emilio D. Iannorelli; Diego Barba. Global Change and Protected Areas (Advances in Global Change Research). New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 425–435. ISBN 0-7923-6918-1.

Coordinates: 42°28′13″N 13°33′56″E / 42.47028°N 13.56556°E / 42.47028; 13.56556

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[1] Grunewald, K,; Scheithauer, J, (2010), "Europe's southernmost glaciers: response and adaptation to climate change" (PDF), Journal of Glaciology, 56 (195): 129–142

[2] Visconti, Guido; M. Beniston; Emilio D. Iannorelli; Diego Barba. Global Change and Protected Areas (Advances in Global Change Research). New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 425–435. ISBN 0-7923-6918-1.