Gorner Glacier
| Gorner Glacier | ||
|---|---|---|
 Gorner Glacier and Monte Rosa |
||
| location | Canton of Valais , Switzerland | |
| Mountains | Valais Alps | |
| Type | Valley glacier | |
| length | 12.9 km (2007) | |
| surface | 54 km² (2007, including tributary glacier ) | |
| Exposure | northwest | |
| Altitude range | 4600 m above sea level M. - 2140 m above sea level M. (2007) | |
| Tilt | ⌀ 10 ° (18%) | |
| Ice volume | 5.85 ± 1.53 km³ (2003) | |
| Coordinates | 628.14 thousand / 90970 | |
|
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| drainage | Gornerbach , Furggbach , Gornera , Matter Vispa , Rhone | |
The Gorner Glacier is a valley glacier in the Monte Rosa massif southeast of Zermatt , in the Valais Alps , near the southern border of Switzerland . It is around 12.9 km long, making it the third longest glacier in the Alps . The area of the Gorner Glacier system was estimated at 54 km² in 2007, which is the second largest contiguous glacier area in the Alps after the Aletsch Glacier . In the summer of 2019 the actual Gorner Glacier is no longer connected to the Grenz Glacier, which means that the Gorner Glacier suddenly became a much smaller glacier
Below the junction of the Gorner Glacier with the second main arm, the Grenzgletscher , the glacier, flanked by the Breithorn in the south and the Gornergrat in the north , extends around 5 km further to the west, although the slope here is only very flat. The ice is covered with the rubble of the numerous median moraines. In 2007, the glacier tongue was at an altitude of 2140 m. This is where the Gornerbach emerges, which flows into the Furggbach . The latter flows into the Gornera at Furi , which joins in Zermatt with other side streams to the Matter Vispa , which flows through the Mattertal to the Rhône .
In contrast to most of the Alpine glaciers, which are temperate glaciers , the Gorner Glacier is a polythermal glacier , and it is also the largest of its kind in the Alps. In such a glacier, the temperature is partly below the pressure melting point , this is especially true for the Grenz glacier.
The glacier reached its last high point in 1859. In a period of 60 years the glacier had penetrated 600 meters into cultivated land and in the process destroyed numerous alpine huts and individual houses.
The Monte Rosa Hut stands on the ridge above the confluence of the two main arms of the glacier at 2883 m above sea level. M. It can be reached from the Gornergrat ago by crossing the Gorner glacier and one of the starting points for climbing the summit of Monte Rosa.
Source glacier
Main glaciers of Gornersystems is the Grenzgletscher that its starting point on the Signalkuppe ( 4554 m above sea level. M. south) of the Dufourspitze takes. Especially in the accumulation area at Colle Gnifetti ( 4452 m ), the temperatures inside the glacier are at −13 ° C, well below the pressure melting point, so that the glacier behaves like a cold glacier at this altitude and the historical conditions of the earth's atmosphere are preserved through air inclusions . The Grenzgletscher flows northwest along the northern foot of the Liskamm .
North of the Dufourspitze on the Weissgrat (up to 3700 m) is the origin of the actual Gorner Glacier. This flows with a fairly even incline of 18% along the Stockhorn south foot to the west. After around 7 km, it joins the longer Grenzglacier at an altitude of 2550 m, but keeps its name. Between these two glaciers on the western slope of the Dufourspitze extends the 4 km long Monte Rosa glacier, which is laterally connected to both the Grenz and Gorner glaciers. The upper part of the Gorner Glacier is connected to the Findel Glacier by a wide ice-covered ridge .
Important side glaciers are the 3 to 4 km long twin glaciers that flow in from the south (origin on Castor , 4228 m above sea level ), Schwärzegletscher (origin on Pollux , 4092 m above sea level ), Breithorn and Triftji glaciers (both on North slope of the Breithorn) as well as the Lower Theodul Glacier .
Consumption area
At the confluence of the Grenz and Gorner glaciers , the Gornersee , a meltwater lake that is dammed up by the glacier ice, forms in spring . In the period between June and September, the lake empties within a few days. This emptying causes flood peaks in the Gornerbach of up to 150 cubic meters per second, further side effects are an increased flow speed of the glacier and an uplift of the glacier of up to half a meter.
Due to the polythermal nature of the Gorner Glacier, which is shaped by the Grenzgletscher, special phenomena can be observed in the lower, flat consumption area for alpine ice flows. The glacier is particularly known for the blue glacial lakes that form on the surface. There is also a permanent network of deeply incised meltwater streams that cannot be found anywhere else in the Alps. The light, white color of the glacier ice is also striking. These peculiarities only exist in the area of the glacier, whose origin lies in the Grenzgletscher. The reason for this is ice, the temperature of which is permanently below the pressure melting point.
Boden glacier
When the Gorner nor the bottleneck between lichen boards and the cliffs of Riffelhorn and -berg reached down, this lower section called ground glacier. This name can probably be traced back to the former Alpine settlement "Im Boden".
In colder periods the Gorner Glacier had advanced to the Schweigmatten near Furi , the last high point was reached in 1859. This tail-shaped tongue, interspersed with numerous crevices , was clearly visible from Zermatt. At this time, the Breithorn glacier and the common tongue of the Triftji and Lower Theodul glaciers also fed the Gorner glacier. In the meantime, the end of the tongue of the Gorner Glacier has shifted a good 2.65 km up the valley and the Boden glacier no longer exists.
Web links
- Extensive documentation on Glaciers online
- Research institute for hydraulic engineering, hydrology and glaciology (VAW) of the ETH Zurich (publisher): Gornergletscher. In: Swiss Glacier Measurement Network. ( ethz.ch , also as PDF ).
- Research Institute for Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW) of the ETH Zurich : Gorner Glacier. In: Glacier Natural Hazards. ( ethz.ch ( page no longer available ), also as a PDF ( page no longer available )).
- Interactive comparison images from the Gorner Glacier
- Gorner Glacier on the ETHorama platform
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Hanspeter Holzhauser: Dendrochronological evaluation of fossil woods for the reconstruction of the post-Ice Age glacier history. In: Bulletin for Applied Geology. 13/2: 23–41, 2008 ( online ( memento of the original from July 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; PDF; 1.9 MB)
- ^ Research institute for hydraulic engineering, hydrology and glaciology (VAW) of the ETH Zurich : Gornergletscher. In: Glacier Natural Hazards. ( ethz.ch ( page no longer available ), also as a PDF ( page no longer available )).
- ↑ Daniel Farinotti, Matthias Huss, Andreas Bauder, Martin Funk: An estimate of the glacier ice volume in the Swiss Alps. In: Global and Planetary Change. 68: 225-231, 2009 ( online ; PDF; 756 kB).
- ↑ photo
- ↑ a b Research Institute for Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW), ETH Zurich: The Polythermal Structure of Gornergletscher (Valais). In: High Altitude Research Stations Jungfraujoch and Gornergrat (HFSJG): Activity Report 2010 . Page 165ff ( online ; PDF; 406 kB)
- ↑ a b c Hanspeter Holzhauser: The advance of the Gorner Glacier from 1791 to the high point around 1859 as reflected in historical image and written sources. In: Bulletin for Applied Geology. 13/2: 43–58, 2008 ( online ( memento of the original from July 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; PDF; 1.4 MB)
- ↑ Martin Lüthi, Martin Funk: Temperatures in glaciers and ice sheets. In: Physics of Glaciers I. Script for the autumn semester 2012 lecture ( online ; PDF; 806 kB)
- ↑ swisstopo.ch: Swisstopo geodata viewer, as of November 2012
- ↑ Valentin Gischig: Dependence of the seismic speed on the Gorner Glacier. 2005 ( online ; PDF; 2.0 MB)
- ^ Charles Knapp, Maurice Borel, Victor Attinger, Heinrich Brunner, Société neuchâteloise de geographie (editor): Geographical Lexicon of Switzerland . Volume 2: Emmenholz - Kraialppass . Verlag Gebrüder Attinger, Neuenburg 1904, p. 374, keyword Gornergletscher ( scan of the lexicon page ).
- ^ Charles Knapp, Maurice Borel, Victor Attinger, Heinrich Brunner, Société neuchâteloise de geographie (editor): Geographical Lexicon of Switzerland . Volume 1: Aa - Emmengruppe . Verlag Gebrüder Attinger, Neuenburg 1902, p. 286, keyword Bodengletscher ( scan of the lexicon page ).
