The future of the glaciers from the past to the next 100 years foreword

The International Symposium "The future of the glaciers: from the past to the next 100 years" was held in Torino (Italy) from 18 to 21 September, 2014 for celebrating the centenary of the Bulletin of the Italian Glaciological Committee. The "Bulletin", published as Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria (GFDQ), is currently in its third series. The topics of the meeting were focused on glacier mass balance, monitoring and observation, glacier geophysics, glaciological hazard, climate driven glacial change, glacier hydrology, periglacial/permafrost processes, and snow processes. A selection of the papers presented at the Symposium is published in this volume. The centennial CGI activity represents the base of knowledge for prosecuting and improving Italian glaciological researches and for satisfying the increasing need for validated and reliable data for developing quantitative models of glaciers response to climatic warming.