Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 1 OcTOber 2019
Radar installed to better watch unstable Mont Blanc glacier

By COLLEEN BARRY and since 2012.
CHARLENE PELE "We hope this big part of
Associated Press the glacier that is destabi-
COURMAYEUR, Italy (AP) — lized will fall down in small-
A radar system has been er pieces," Troilo said, but
installed to better monitor added there was no way
a fast-moving glacier on to forecast if it will happen
the Italian side of the Mont as a single event or mul-
Blanc massif that risks hav- tiple smaller collapses. The
ing a massive section break mayor said it was also pos-
off into a tourist valley. sible that no major break
The radar system installed would happen, especially
Thursday on the Planpin- if the winter freeze arrives
cieux glacier provides con- and stabilizes the glacier's
stant data on movements movement.
of ice even at the sub- Even though the road is
millimeter level. That com- opened up three times for
pares with the satellite pho- residents, they are growing
to monitoring already in weary of the precaution.
place, which requires clear "I'd say this thing needs to
skies and takes between six fall. We are waiting for it to
to 12 days to get compara- In this picture made available Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019, the Planpincieux glacier, located in the fall and we hope it will hap-
tive images. Alps on the Grande Jorasses peak of the Mont Blanc massif, is seen from Val Ferret, a popular hik- pen as fast as possible in or-
The mayor of the Ital- ing area on the south side of the Mont Blanc, near Courmayeur, northern Italy, Wednesday, Sept. der to save us all and free
ian town of Courmayeur, 25, 2019. us from all this hassle," said
Stevano Miserocchi, has Associated Press Marco Belfrond, owner of
closed a mountain road the Miravalle hotel in Plan-
and blocked access to tributed to a decrease in faster than before and is it's projected to reach the pincieux, who has watched
nearby areas due to the risk glacial mass throughout accelerating. valley road that has been the glacier recede over the
that a 250,000-cubic-meter the Alps. A new special The collapse of the unstable closed, said Fabrizio Troi- last 40 years.
mass of the glacier could report by the Intergovern- section of the Planpincieux lo, a glaciologist with the Belfrond said his hotel
collapse into the Val Fer- mental Panel on Climate glacier is not inevitable. But Safe Mountain Foundation, wasn't at risk, but that the
ret, a popular hiking area. Change this week said that if it does fall all at once — which has been monitoring road closure was limiting
Experts say the melting glacier melt is happening the worst-case scenario — the Planpincieux glacier the arrival of guests.q
has been linked to climate
change, which moved the
freezing point this summer Cuba battles plague of giant snails
to above the top of Mont
Blanc, western Europe's
highest summit. who lives in a neighbor- effects.
Scientists and officials hood rife with the mollusks, Health authorities have
sounded the alarm after whose scientific name is asked people to collect
the glacier saw ice move- Achatina fulica. snails without touching
ments of up to 50 centi- In recent months, Cuban them with their bare hands
meters (20 inches) a day authorities have activated and then destroy them in
were recorded, due to the the nationwide civil de- sealed containers. But they
creation of a deep fissure fense system to battle the still say it will take some
during higher-than-usual snails. But some say the time to get the infestation
summer temperatures. The state's response is inad- under control.
movement has slowed to equate. The snail has no natural
10 centimeters (4 inches) a Marín and families in the predators in Cuba and
day in recent days. Villa Panamericana neigh- eats fruits, vegetables and
The glacier itself spreads borhood are keeping chil- even garbage, allowing it
1,327 square kilometers In this Aug. 28, 2019 photo, a rout of giant African snails gather dren indoors to play due to rapidly proliferate.
(512 square miles) across in a corner in Havana, Cuba. to the danger of infection "It's a health problem, an
the Grande Jorasses moun- Associated Press from the snails, which can economic problem and
tain in the Mont Blanc mas- transmit a potentially se- an ecological problem,
sif, which straddles Italy, By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ ant African snail has been vere brain infection called said Isbel Díaz, a biolo-
France and Switzerland. HAVANA (AP) — Silently invading Cuba. meningoencephalitis and gist who runs a non-gov-
Climate change has con- and without pause, the gi- With their shiny, brilliantly an abdominal disease ernmental environmental
striped shells and bodies known as angiostrongilia- group in Havana.
up to 8 inches (20 centime- sis. Díaz said many people
ters) long, the snails have First detected in Cuba in were doing their best to
become public enemy 2014, the snail can now be help, but without proper
No. 1 for epidemiologists found throughout Havana training or equipment
and citizens have grown to and in almost every one of were not collecting or de-
fear their ability to transmit the island's provinces. It's stroying the snails safely.
diseases and harm crops. not known how the snail "It's a real challenge," he
"I never heard of them arrived in the nation. said. "No country has been
before, but now they're It is also found in countries able to control this plague
everywhere," said Yusmila around the world, where it and Cuba won't be able to
Marín, a 29-year-old nurse has had similar destructive in the short or mid-term."q