Glacier-related hazards in a changing mountain environment: an Italian-Canadian perspective

A systematic study of glacier-related hazards in the Western Alps started in Italy only in the early 1990s, and greatly benefited from the pioneering studies of John Clague. He analyzed natural instability processes in the glaciated environment and their relationship with the climatic and environmental changes taking place since the end of the Little Ice Age. From the beginning of the 2000s, it became clear that environmental changes related to global warming were accelerating so quickly in high elevation and glaciated mountains. An international effort to collect and exchange data was thus required, in order to provide scientists and local administrations with the most advanced knowledge and tools to deal with the impacts of climate change. This was the premise behind the start of a fruitful scientific collaboration developed over nearly 10 years between the authors and John Clague and other Canadian scientists, with the aim to compare geomorphic processes occurring in the high mountains of two distant geographic areas, but with similar physiographic characteristics. In this framework, we analyzed and compared instability events occurred in glacial and periglacial areas of the Italian Alps and of Western Canada, such as landslides, debris flows, glacial lake outburst floods, ice avalanches. We identified the types of instability mainly conditioned by climate change and discussed hazard scenarios. Methodological approaches used in Italy and Canada for studying the impacts of degrading permafrost and glacier ice loss on mountain environments were compared, and strategies for communication and dissemination of results were addressed. Studies have shown differences and similarities among the two areas, which highlight the effects of regional/local physiography and climate and, at the same time, confirm the global scale of the changes underway. These fruitful research results fed educational activities and research training within international academic exchange programs such as GeoNatHaz.