Permafrost holding together the highest peaks in the Alps and other European mountain ranges is melting and threatening alpine villages and ski resorts with devastating rock falls and landslides. Some villages may have to be evacuated and there are fears that rivers may be blocked by debris, causing potential flash floods when the unstable dams created subsequently collapse. The European Union has launched a permafrost monitoring program to predict when disasters may occur and isolate unstable areas.
Scientists blame the changes on global warming.
Dr Charles Harris, from the earth sciences department at Cardiff University in Wales who coordinates the research for the EU, said the main risks were in the Alps in Switzerland, Austria, France, Germany and Italy, with their dense populations and steep slopes. Among the places being monitored are the Murtel-Corvatsch mountain, above fashionable St Moritz, and the Schilthorn, which towers above the Muran and Gandeg resorts, near Zermatt. If the temperature inside the mountain is only -2C at the moment, then it will not take long to defrost. There already were rock falls, landslides, mud flows, debris and slush flows in Switzerland as the ice melted and weakened the mountains. These were certain to increase.