Italian glacier wrapped with huge sheets to prevent melting

Presena glacier, Italy: Huge geotextile sheets have been placed over the Presena glacier in Italy to try and prevent, or at least reduce, the melting of the ice.

The glacier, near the northern town Trento, was covered in June with over 100,000 square metres of white geotextile sheets meant to reflect the sunlight during the summer months and reduce the temperature of the permanent ice.

The massive cover, laid down at an altitude between 2,700 and 3,000 metres and kept in place by sandbags, will be removed at the start of the skiing season, when temperatures drop.

The procedure, carried out every year since 2008, was designed as a way to combat the effects of global warming that, according to Italian media, have caused the Presena glacier to loose one third of its surface in less than 20 years.