Glaciers natural archives

Keywords Air pollution, Alpine glaciers, Climate reconstruction, Ice core, Natural archives... 

However, in the Alps there are only a few glaciers suitable as natural archives. A prerequisite is that fim temperatures are well below 0°C and melt-water percolation is negligible in order to preserve the signal of past climate and environmental changes. Such conditions can be found above 4,000 m a.s.l. in the Northern part and above 4,300 m a.s.l. in the Southern part of the Alps [3]. Thus, potential sites for obtaining useful samples are limited to a few high-elevation areas, for instance the Bernese Alps, the Monte Rosa area, and the Mont Blanc area. 

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