LAST REMAINING GLACIER ON MOUNT TRIGLAV DISAPPEARING

LJUBLJANA, OCTOBER 5 /SRNA-Reuters/ - One of the last remaining glaciers on Mount Triglav could completely disappear within the next few days, researchers have warned.

Scientists have been monitoring the glacier on Mount Triglav since 1946, when it covered an area of around 14 hectares. In recent years, it has ceased to function as a glacier, meaning that no additional ice has been forming.

"Everything indicates that the last remnants of ice will literally disappear in the coming days. I have been monitoring the situation for the past 30 years. Everything indicates that this major task, at least as far as the one at the foot of Triglav is concerned, is coming to an end this year," said Miha Pavšek from the Anton Melik Geographical Institute at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

According to him, although the site is in the shade, this cannot save the remaining ice.

Glaciers are shrinking across Europe, where land is warming faster than on any other continent.

Pavšek noted that the loss of glaciers in neighboring Austria could also lead to reduced water flows in the Drava and Mura river basins, which are important sources of irrigation water in Slovenia.