Building on the legacy of the ADA270 project, through which a 224-metre long ice core was extracted from the Adamello glacier in 2021, the ClimADA project, thanks to extensive collaboration between scientific and institutional partners, has the important goal of reconstructing the climatic evolution of the last centuries, the anthropic impact in the high Alpine mountain area, and also the dynamics of the plant species, the history of the great fires which have occurred in the last centuries and in general of the anthropogenic impacts in high mountain areas.
With the ADA270 drilling, the already installed fiber optic probe and the appropriate integration with other information coming from conventional sensors, it is possible to study the behavior of the ice mass (through thermal and glacier deformation profiles) and to follow its evolution over time as a function of the change in external environmental parameters, predicting their future fate also in the light of global warming projections provided by global climate models.
The Adamello glacier, the deepest in Italy, in fact represents one of the most powerful archives of the climatic, environmental and human history of the Italian Alps and in particular of Lombardy.
The ClimADA project has another fundamental goal: to bring the attention of the study of glaciers towards a climatic and environmental perspective through data and information collected not only by the international scientific community but above all by the local population.
Through conferences, thematic workshops and local exhibitions, political decision-makers, professionals and experts in territorial government, promotion associations, trainers and educators, environmental associations, students and young people will be involved.
The ultimate goal is to effectively communicate the effects of climate change on the territory, the environment and current and future water availability, stimulating important reflections on respecting and safeguarding the planet on which we live.
The project activities, coordinated by the lead partner Fondazione Lombardia per l'Ambiente, are developed within the activities of the University of Milan-Bicocca, with particular regard to the EuroCold Lab (UNIMIB) and the local authority of the Comunità Montana della Valle Camonica, managing institution of the Adamello Regional Park.
As regards the optical fiber monitoring component and the development of the geo-dynamic model of the glacier, the research is being developed in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano and the University of Brescia.
