Glacier wrapped in foil to stop melting

ENVIRONMENT - LOOKING GLASS NEWS	View without photos
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Glacier wrapped in foil to stop melting

from CBC News
Entered into the database on Tuesday, May 17th, 2005 @ 02:06:22 MST

Untitled Document ANDERMATT, SWITZERLAND - Employees at a Swiss ski resort have swaddled part of a glacier in reflective sheeting to keep it from melting over the summer.

Workers cover parts of the Gurschen glacier above the Swiss ski resort of Andermatt on Tuesday. (AP Photo)
The white foil covers about 2,500 square metres of the Gurschen glacier, by the Andermatt resort in central Switzerland.

Nearly 4 mm thick, the cover is made from synthetic fibres that protect the snow from ultraviolet radiation.

It was laid out on Tuesday by employees of Andermatt Gotthard Sportbahnen, the company that operates ski lifts at the resort.

The company said it took the step because employees had watched the glacier recede 20 metres from one of its lift stations in only 15 years.

It said a strip of snow that connects the station to the glacier had disappeared each summer, making it necessary to build it up artificially.

The sheeting will be removed in the fall and put back up in the spring, the company said.

Environmentalists from WWF International, Greenpeace and other groups protested as the glacier was covered.

They dismissed the foil as a short-term solution. The worldwide problem of melting glaciers can only be addressed by cracking down on greenhouse gases and other things that contribute to climate change, the environmentalists said.