Morphometric reconstruction of glacial outlines from Little Ice Age to the present in the Italian Western Alps

Glacial and periglacial areas evolve quickly in relation to climate variations, because of the morphogenetic action produced by advancing and receding glaciers and by ground ice growth/thawing. Since the end of the Little Ice Age, radical changes in Western Italian alpine glacier outlines have occurred: in the last 150 years the glaciated areas have decreased from 48.4 km2 to 10.7 km2 with an overall reduction of 78%. Some morphometric parameters as maximum and minimum altitude, snout position, length and area were measured for 95 glaciers, set in Torino and Cuneo Provinces, using historical carthography, stereo interpretation of aerial photos and field surveys. The aim of this work is to give statistical analysis of resulting data, presented in framework of the Alcotra 2007-2013 n. 56 project GlaRiskAlp.