Student project of Mainz University installs wind-catching screen at the Swiss Rhône glacier to test its effect on its melting rate
19.08.2008
Glaciers across the globe are facing a dramatic meltdown in consequence of global warming. Some researchers even predict all Alpine glaciers to have vanished by 2100 if men does not find a way to stop the current trend. To combat this dramatic development, Hans-Joachim Fuchs, professor of geography at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, has designed a system of mountain wind catching screens which could slow glacier melt rates.
In early August 2008, Professor Fuchs and a team of 27 student researchers from Mainz University travelled to the Valais region in southwestern Switzerland. Here they installed a 15 meter-wide and 3 meter-high wind catching screen at the Rhône glacier at an altitude of 2,280 meters. These screens are constructed so as to harness the dense kabatic air streams which flow downhill. By deflecting these air streams directly on to the surface of the glaciers, they might be cooled enough to counteract the effects of global warming.
Attempts to preserve glacier ice have so far only led to the covering of sections of shrinking glaciers with giant reflective covers that help to cool the ice simply by deflecting sunlight. Thus, the idea of using wind catching screens to stop glacier melting is completely new. "We hope that our installations will bring about a net cooling of the area," explained Fuchs. "Though we will not be able to stop it, we hope to at least slow down the process of melting up here." Results from this 10-day test wind catching screening will be available later this year.