Italy spread white cloth to protect melting ice

The Guardian newspaper (UK) said the summer is approaching and this alpine ice sheet should be protected from global warming. The Presena ice sheet has lost a third of its mass since 1993.

Once the ski season ended, the ice protection race immediately began. White tarps will help protect the ice sheet from the sun causing melting from the Sun.

Mr Davide Panizza (34 years old), head of Carosello-Tonale Company, responsible for stretching the fabric on the ice, said: ” This area is losing ground, so we have to cover as much ice as possible. ” .

Oilcloths are similar in color to snow. Photo: AFP

The project began in 2008, with 30,000 square meters of tape covered with tarpaulin. To date, Davide Panizza’s unit has tasked with covering 100,000 square meters of tarps.

Mr. Panizza said the tarpaulin was sun-protective, maintaining a low temperature for the underlying snow and protecting as much snow as possible.

After spreading tarpaulins on the ice, sandbags will be placed to prevent the wind from blowing the cloth. Each sheet has a size of 70x5m and is white equivalent to the snow layer below.

Panizza said Austria has similar tape protection systems but the area covered by tarpaulins is much smaller.

Austrian tarpaulins cost $ 450 each and require six teams to spread out the tape and six weeks to unload the fabric as winter approaches.