{{Short description|Glacier in the Apennine Mountains, Abruzzo, Italy}} {{Infobox glacier | name = Calderone glacier | other_name = | image = GhiacciaioDelCalderone.jpg | image_size = | photo_nlt = | caption = "Il Calderone", Europe's second southernmost glacial mass as seen in July 2007, deglaciation has not slowed, making it unlikely the Calderone will survive past 2030 | type = | location = Southern slopes of the Corno Grande massif | coordinates = {{Coord|format=dms|display=it}} | coordinates_ref = | map = Italy | label_position = right | map_size = | map_alt = | map_caption = Glacier's location in Italy | area = | length = | width = | thickness = | terminus = | status = | mapframe = yes | mapframe-wikidata = yes }} The '''Calderone glacier''' ({{langx|it|Ghiacciaio del Calderone}}) is a glacier located in the Apennine Mountains in Abruzzo, Italy. Found in the Gran Sasso d'Italia mountain group, it lies just beneath the Corno Grande, the highest peak in the Apennines.
With the disappearance of the Corral de la Veleta glacier in the Sierra Nevada in 1913, "Il Calderone" became one of Europe's southernmost known glaciers (42°28′N, 13°33′E), being slightly to the north only compared to Snezhnika (latitude of 41°46′09″ N) and Banski Suhodol Glaciers in Pirin Mountain in Bulgaria.<ref name=glacier>{{cite web|title=(the pirin mountains, bulgaria) in the last ten years|url=https://www.igipz.pan.pl/tl_files/igipz/ZGiHGiW/sgcb/sgbc_45/03gaczew.pdf|publisher=igipz.pan.pl|accessdate=5 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1 = Grunewald |first1 = K |last2 = Scheithauer |first2 = J |title = Europe's southernmost glaciers: response and adaptation to climate change |journal = Journal of Glaciology |volume = 56 |issue = 195 |year = 2010 |pages = 129–142 |doi = 10.3189/002214310791190947 |bibcode = 2010JGlac..56..129G |doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gachev |first=Emil |last2=Gikov |first2=Alexander |last3=Zlatinova |first3=Cvetelina |last4=Blagoev |first4=Bozidar |title=Present state of Bulgarian glacierets |url=http://geoinfo.amu.edu.pl/sgp/LA/LA11/LA11_05.pdf |journal=Landform Analysis |volume=11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gachev |first=Emil |last2=Stoyanov |first2=Krasimir |date=2013 |title=СЪВРЕМЕННИ СНЕЖНО-ФИРНОВИ ТЕЛА В ПЛАНИНАТА ПРОКЛЕТИЯ (АЛБАНСКИ АЛПИ) |url=https://geoproblems.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2013_12/7_gachev.pdf |journal=Problems of Geography |language=bg}}</ref> If present deglaciation trends continue, the Calderone may soon disappear as well. The discovery of a number of small glaciers in the Accursed Mountains in 2009 seemed to threaten Calderone's positions.<ref>{{Citation |last1 = Grunewald |first1 = K |last2 = Scheithauer |first2 = J |title = Europe's southernmost glaciers: response and adaptation to climate change |journal = Journal of Glaciology |volume = 56 |issue = 195 |year = 2010 |pages = 129–142 |doi = 10.3189/002214310791190947 |bibcode = 2010JGlac..56..129G |doi-access = free }}</ref>
==Research history== {{update-section|date=February 2019}}
In 1794, the Calderone had an estimated volume of over 4 million cubic metres. By 1916, the glacier’s volume had decreased to 3.3 million cubic metres, and by 1990 it had declined further to 360,931 cubic metres. In 1998, Italian glaciologists at a symposium in L'Aquila predicted that the Calderone would vanish within a couple of decades.<ref>{{cite book |last=Visconti |first=Guido |author2=M. Beniston |author3=Emilio D. Iannorelli |author4=Diego Barba |title=Global Change and Protected Areas (Advances in Global Change Research) |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |location=New York |isbn=0-7923-6918-1 |pages=425–435 |date=2001-04-30 }}</ref>
During the summer of 2000, the glacier fragmented into two smaller ice bodies, the Upper and Lower Calderone Glacierets, exposing a Roche Moutonnée landform between them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dossi |first=Matteo |last2=Mattei |first2=Elisabetta |last3=Pecci |first3=Massimo |last4=Cosciotti |first4=Barbara |last5=Lauro |first5=Sebastian Emanuel |last6=Monaco |first6=Angelo |last7=Scozzafava |first7=Marco |last8=Pettinelli |first8=Elena |date=January 2024 |title=The last remnants of the Italian Apennine glaciers: 3-D modeling of the Lower Calderone Glacieret by the IDW spatial interpolation of GPR data |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-glaciology/article/last-remnants-of-the-italian-apennine-glaciers-3d-modeling-of-the-lower-calderone-glacieret-by-the-idw-spatial-interpolation-of-gpr-data/F014744FAAD67B4D12C03F5B18F0B12D |journal=Journal of Glaciology |language=en |volume=70 |pages=e32 |doi=10.1017/jog.2024.36 |issn=0022-1430|doi-access=free }}</ref> By 2006, their combined surface area had shrunk to ~3.5 hectares from the ~9.88 hectares in 1884.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=D'Orefice |first=Maurizio |last2=Pecci |first2=Massimo |last3=Smiraglia |first3=Claudio |last4=Ventura |first4=Renato |date=May 2000 |title=Retreat of Mediterranean Glaciers since the Little Ice Age: Case Study of Ghiacciaio del Calderone, Central Apennines, Italy |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2000.12003355 |journal=Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=197–201 |doi=10.1080/15230430.2000.12003355 |issn=1523-0430}}</ref>
In March 2022, a joint survey by CNR-ISP, INGV, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, and the University of Padua found approximately 25 meters of ice remaining, largely concealed beneath debris.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pezzella |first=Francesca |title=Calderone, about 25 meters of ice remain |url=https://www.ingv.it/en/press-and-urp/Press/Press-releases/5142-cauldron-approximately-25-meters-of-ice-remains |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250915211237/https://www.ingv.it/en/press-and-urp/Press/Press-releases/5142-cauldron-approximately-25-meters-of-ice-remains |archive-date=2025-09-15 |access-date=2026-05-26 |website=www.ingv.it |language=en}}</ref> A subsequent drilling campaign recovered the first ice core from the glacieret, reaching bedrock at 27.2 meters, with the core preserved in Antarctica under the UNESCO-recognized Ice Memory program. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Ice Memory: the first ice core drilled from the Calderone glacier, on the Gran Sasso mountain – RESEARCHITALY |url=https://researchitaly.mur.gov.it/en/ice-memory-the-first-ice-core-drilled-from-the-calderone-glacier-on-the-gran-sasso-mountain/ |access-date=2026-05-26 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Researchers estimate the glacieret could disappear entirely by 2050 if significant emissions reductions are not achieved.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-17 |title=Italy seeks to study, sample Europe's southernmost glacier |url=https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-environment-italy-glaciers-edcc4bbe37b66c5203ef207d01601fe3 |access-date=2026-05-26 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto;clear:both;" |- |colspan=3| '''Surface and volume of the glacier''' |- ! align=left | Year !! align=left | Surface m<sup>2</sup> !! align=left | Volume m<sup>3</sup> |- | 1794 || align="right"| {{dts|104257}} || align="right"| {{dts|4332207}} |- | 1884 || align="right"| {{dts|90886}} || align="right"| {{dts|3382166}} |- | 1916 || align="right"| {{dts|63335}} || align="right"| {{dts|3386485}} |- | 1934 || align="right"| {{dts|59713}} || align="right"| {{dts|2461529}} |- | 1960 || align="right"| {{dts|60030}} || align="right"| {{dts|1729934}} |- | 1990 || align="right"| {{dts|52586}} || align="right"| {{dts|360931}} |- | 2005 || align="right"| {{dts|32900}} || align="right"| --- |- | 2006 || align="right"| {{dts|32700}} || align="right"| --- |- | 2008 || align="right"| {{dts|35545}} || align="right"| --- |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Glaciers of Italy Category:Mountains of Abruzzo Category:Apennine Mountains