An energy source
Hydroelectric energy production represents an important revenue for mountainous regions in many countries, including Italy. Melting glacier water guarantees a supply of great amounts of water even during summer and a great number of tanks and hydroelectric plants are supplied directly from glacier streams. Many examples can be on the Italian Alps, in northern mountainous regions such as Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta, Trentino-Alto Adige and Lombardy. On some glaciers, water is collected directly from inside the glaciers. Among the most famous, we can mention the Engabreen, in Norway, where in the water collection tunnels is installed an important glacial laboratory that allows to make observations on the inside of the glacier. Even on the Argentière Glacier, which descends on the French side of the Mount Blanc, in the Sixties were dug tunnels in the ice to harness melting glacier water but due to unforeseen variations in the direction of subglacial streams, the project didn’t have the expected success and the galleries have now been closed and converted into an underground laboratory for the study of basal erosion.
Special reports
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10 December 2019
In the fridge of the world
Antarctica is a continent with a very particular charm...
15 April 2014
How rich are we …. in blue gold?
Water footprint, water availability and use on a planetary scale...
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7 October 2021
Water grabbing
“Clear, sweet fresh water,” wrote Petrarch, by many considered a precursor of Italian literature. Before him, St. Francis dedicated two…
17 May 2021
Lost ice
According to a study conducted by a French and Swiss research team recently published in the leading journal Nature, continental…
-
10 December 2019
In the fridge of the world
Antarctica is a continent with a very particular charm...
-
10 December 2019
In the fridge of the world
Antarctica is a continent with a very particular charm...
-
15 April 2014
How rich are we …. in blue gold?
Water footprint, water availability and use on a planetary scale...
-
7 October 2021
Water grabbing
“Clear, sweet fresh water,” wrote Petrarch, by many considered a precursor of Italian literature. Before him, St. Francis dedicated two…
17 May 2021
Lost ice
According to a study conducted by a French and Swiss research team recently published in the leading journal Nature, continental…
-
10 December 2019
In the fridge of the world
Antarctica is a continent with a very particular charm...
-
15 April 2014
How rich are we …. in blue gold?
Water footprint, water availability and use on a planetary scale...
From the Multimedia section
Facts
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Sea in love
In Italy, the "mare in amore" phenomenon occurs very often: the part of the sea coast where this occurs is…
