Photo Gallery Can a Windscreen Save Glaciers?
Something unusual is happening in the Alps: A Mainz professor is installing a windscreen on a Swiss glacier to see if the contraption can lower the temperature on the ice -- and perhaps save the glacier from global warming.
Mainz geographer Hans-Joachim Fuchs is a media-savvy professor with a wild idea.
Foto: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
He wants to harness the power of cold mountain winds -- so-called kabatic winds, or streams of cold, dense air that flow downhill -- with windscreens. The screens would keep the cool air on top of glaciers, perhaps preserving them for a little while longer.
Foto: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Fuchs' eleven-day experiment is being carried out with the help of 27 students. Steel supports have to be set up ...
Foto: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
... and drilled into the ice to support a windscreen.
Foto: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Students have to drill post-holes more than 1.1 meters (3.6 feet) into the ice.
Foto: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
The team will measure to see if the windscreen -- designed to trap cold, dense air as it flows down the mountainside -- has an effect.
Foto: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
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