Plaine Morte Glacier
| Plaine Morte Glacier | ||
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 Plaine Morte Glacier from the north |
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| location | Canton of Bern and Canton of Valais , Switzerland | |
| Mountains | Bernese Alps | |
| Type | Plateau glacier | |
| length | 3.7 km (2011, Rezli Glacier) | |
| surface | 8.4 km² (2005) | |
| Exposure | North | |
| Altitude range | 2953 m above sea level M. - 2468 m above sea level M. (2011) | |
| Tilt | ⌀ 7.7 ° (14%) | |
| Ice thickness | ⌀ 96 m; Max. 235 m (2005) | |
| Ice volume | 0.8 km³ (2005) | |
| Coordinates | 605 700 / 137000 | |
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| drainage | Trüebbach, Simme , Kander , Aare , Rhine and Tièche, Rhone . | |
 Plaine Morte Glacier from the east |
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The Plaine Morte Glacier (French glacier de la Plaine Morte ) is a plateau glacier in the Bernese Alps . It is located on a plateau south of the Wildstrubel in the Swiss municipality of Lenk in the canton of Bern . The border with the canton of Valais runs across the boundary ridge immediately south of the glacier . The most important tongue of the glacier is Rezligletscher (also Raetzligletscher called).
location
Most of the Plaine Morte Glacier lies at an altitude of 2,700 m above sea level. M. to 2800 m . It is in the northeast from the Wildstrubel ( 3244 m ) and Schneehorn ( 3178 m above sea level ), in the south from the ridge of the Faverges ( 2968 m above sea level ), from the Tothorn ( 2935 m above sea level ; French Sex Mort ) and the Pointe de la Plaine Morte ( 2927 m above sea level ), flanked in the northwest by the Weisshorn ( 2948 m above sea level ) and the Gletscherhorn ( 2943 m above sea level ). The glacier is slightly inclined towards the north and ends in the narrow tongue of the Rezli glacier at currently 2468 m . This is where the Trüebbach rises, which falls with several waterfalls down the steep rocky slope onto the Rezlialp , where it joins the spring water of the Siebenbrunnen to the Simme . There is another meltwater runoff in the southeast of the glacier over the Tièche to the Rhone . This means that water flows from the Plaine Morte Glacier to both the North Sea and the Mediterranean .
The Plaine Morte glacier was around 8.4 km² in size in 2005, the ice volume is estimated at 0.8 km³. The ice cover is up to 235 meters thick, the average ice thickness is 96 meters. From 1954 to 2005, its area decreased by 16% and its volume by 18% (0.173 km³). The west-east extension is a maximum of about 5 km, the maximum length for 2011 based on the Rezli Glacier is given as 3.7 km.
The Plaine Morte Glacier made a name for itself in July 2011 with the eruptions of glacial lakes. There was flooding in the Simmental. After the eruption in 2018, which was the largest to date, in 2019 they started to drill an 800 meter long canal through the glacier so that the water can flow away continuously. The emptying in 2019 began on August 24th and thanks to the relief canal, there has been no flooding in the Lenk so far .
Little ice age
At its peak during the Little Ice Age in the middle of the 19th century, the Plaine Morte Glacier reached much further down the northern slope between Gletscherhorn and Wildstrubel. After the glacier retreated, the Rezligletscherseeli formed at 2265 m . The ice volume of the plateau glacier has also decreased sharply over the past 100 years. At the edge of the glacier, some tubs partly filled with meltwater have formed. It is believed that the glacier will largely be gone by the end of the 21st century.
tourism
From the holiday resort of Crans-Montana in the canton of Valais , a Funitel leads to the Pointe de la Plaine Morte, which opens up the glacier area. There is a ski lift south of the glacier on the Valais side of the watershed, which enables skiing even in summer. Because of the glacier retreat, two more former lifts had to be shut down. The wide glacier plain (there are hardly any crevices in the flat area) is ideal for cross-country skiing .
Web links
- Plaine Morte (Wildstrubel). (PDF) Aerial photos of Switzerland. Institute for Media Education of the University of Education Bern and the Swiss Air Force, accessed on November 18, 2012 (dossier with aerial photos and research results for download).
- Plaine Morte Glacier on the ETHorama platform
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d WGMS: Fluctuations of Glaciers Database. World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich 2013 ( DOI: 10.5904 / wgms-fog-2013-11 ), accessed on December 11, 2013
- ↑ a b c d Glacier de la Plaine Morte (Wildstrubel). (PDF; 1.8 MB) Aerial photos of Switzerland. Institute for Media Education of the University of Education Bern and the Swiss Air Force, p. 11 , accessed on November 18, 2012 .
- ↑ Andreas Linsbauer, Frank Paul, Wilfried Haeberli: Modeling glacier thickness distribution and bed topography over entire mountain ranges with GlabTop: Application of a fast and robust approach. In: Journal of Geophysical Research. , Volume 117, F03007, 2012, doi : 10.1029 / 2011JF002313 ( online )
- ↑ http://www.swisstopo.ch : Swisstopo-Geodatenviewer, as of February 2014
- ↑ a b Glacier de la Plaine Morte (Wildstrubel). (PDF; 1.8 MB) Aerial photos of Switzerland. Institute for Media Education of the University of Education Bern and the Swiss Air Force, p. 13 , accessed on November 18, 2012 .
- ↑ The glacier lake is to be structurally tamed. In: thunertagblatt.ch . April 10, 2019, accessed May 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Lenker Glacier Lake runs out «leisurely». In: bernerzeitung.ch . August 24, 2019, accessed August 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Soon three new lanes for Plaine Morte . In: Berner Zeitung . ISSN 1424-1021 ( bernerzeitung.ch [accessed on July 3, 2020]).