Meltdown in the Alps

Global warming is having a dramatic effect on the Alps

By environment correspondent Margaret Gilmore in Switzerland

Scientists have discovered that Europe's permafrost, the frozen earth covering mountain areas like the Alps, is melting.

Residential areas are at risk from landslides

Underground temperatures have risen by nearly a degree in the past decade - three times faster than at any other time in the last century. Buildings and villages will be increasingly at risk.

The world appears to be getting warmer and this is having a dramatic effect on the Alps.

Cable cars stations, restaurants and even homes are built on frozen ground beneath the snow, where rocks and soil are literally glued together by ice.

Debris flows

Now there is evidence that the underground ice is beginning to melt causing new rockfalls down the slopes.

Prof Michael Davies: "There is a threat"

Professor Michael Davies, a civil engineer from Dundee University, UK, is one of a group of world experts in ice and snow who have been visiting the St Moritz area of Switzerland to investigate.

"There is a threat, " he told the BBC. "Over the next 20- 30 years, we might find large movement to structures such as cable cars, and an increase in debris flows causing problems to villages which might lie in their path."

Dr Daniel Vonder Muhll, a geophysicist from the Swiss Federal Institute of technology in Zurich, is co-ordinating the scientific research.

Weaker ground

The scientists call their three-year research project Pace, or Permafrost and Climate in Europe.

Experts are looking for ways to avoid disaster

"The permafrost is the ground below the snow which is frozen all year round. But as the ice binding the soil and rock melts, it weakens the ground," Dr Daniel Vonder Muhll said.

The researchers have invented a machine that measures the temperature below the snow - from a helicopter.

It shows a pattern of rising temperature. The researchers believe global warming is to blame.

Active rockfalls

Experiments on the ground found that the edges of the permafrost are already melting. Now they are looking for ways to avoid disaster.

Dr Charles Harris, a geologist from Cardiff University, is on the scientific team.

He said: "There is a threat to people from the melting permafrost. It could damage infrastructure and lead to landslides which may become more active. And if settlements and houses are below, they could have material coming down on top of them."

The scientists have been studying a cable car station near St Moritz, which is built on permafrost.

Moving stations

They plan to put metal anchors near the station's foundations to keep the rock firm as the permafrost melts.

Prince Charles is currently holidaying in the Swiss Alps

But in coming years, the whole station is likely to be rebuilt elsewhere - where the permafrost remains stronger.

The cable car runs up one of the highest peaks in the area - the Corvatsch peak - and reveals stunning views.

On a clear day, you can see more than 100 kilometres across the Alps.

The cable car manager Duri Bezzola says they are monitoring the rock and it's safe at present. But he confirms they will eventually have to move several stations.

Safety issue

With three-quarters of a million tourists going to the Alps from the UK alone, future safety is a priority for the Swiss tourist board. The region's economy would collapse without the visitors.

The village of Pontresina has 1,800 residents and space for 6,000 tourists.

The scientists say it will be particularly vulnerable to rockfalls caused by melting permafrost on the slopes above. In the autumn, building work will start on a 13-metre high wall the length of the village. This should protect the settlement.

With the permafrost melting so fast, the priority now is to identify other potential danger spots and to make them safe.