The famed Calderone Glacier on the
Gran Sasso in Abruzzo has melted weeks early this year after a
heatwave and drought.
In what some see as a sign of global warming, Europe's
southernmost glacier has disappeared for the first time before
the end of summer.
"The Calderone Glacier is no more and our refuge's stream has
been dry since yesterday, which has never happened over the last
30 years," the managers of the Franchetti Refuge said on their
Facebook page.
Photos taken by local mountaineers show the Calderone basin
dry, apart from three tiny patches of ice.
The glacier lies between 2,650 and 2,850 metres up on Italy's
biggest, but not highest, mountain.
L'Aquila-based mountaineer Paolo Boccabella said "the
situation is dramatic this year: the glacier has disappeared not
at the end of summer but already in mid-August".
Meteorologists said ice remained under the gravel.
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