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Author Topic: Permafrost Melt Danger getting primetime news coverage in Norway  (Read 5861 times)

viddaloo

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*) Well, the 'personal angle' of it, at least, gets primetime focus :)

Does a schoolboy living under the «Mannen» mountain hammer want «The Man» to come crushing down smashing everything so he can go back to his home? Well, yes. Other than that, 10–11 people and a couple hundred sheep have been evacuated, awaiting the looming avalanche. Luckily, this mountain hammer is one of the most surveiled in the world, following the demise of «The Wife» nearby in the late 1940s.

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viddaloo

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Re: Permafrost Melt Danger getting primetime news coverage in Norway
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2014, 09:13:50 PM »
The above graph (top post) shows the accumulated movement in mm for different measurement points.

A Google Earth graphic from one of the tabloids can be seen here, showing the danger zone in red:

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viddaloo

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Re: Permafrost Melt Danger getting primetime news coverage in Norway
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2014, 02:14:47 AM »
Some recent quotes about permafrost/climate change related to avalanches in the mainstream press:

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Changing climate bringing more extreme weather than before will also increase the frequency of large precipitation events and thus the danger of avalanches in Western Norway.

Permafrost close to the melting point is particularly exposed as temperatures rise. Warming of the ground can cause huge instability, and in steep terrains soil and rocks can loosen and cause avalanches as permafrost thaws or disappears. The expected climate changes for coming decades will probably cause further changes to permafrost in Norway.

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Outer factors like weather and climate are influential, but must be seen in conjuction with inner factors in the mountain.

'Climate political spokesperson' Oskar Jarle Grimstad from the far–right governing FRP party (that generally does "not believe" in Climate Change) says the Norwegian state will from now on (2015) finance the avalanche surveillance projects in Norway. Until recently this has been paid for by local authorities. (When global warming may kill fellow Norwegians, it is apparently sufficiently believable.):

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Government is preparing a state take–over of the surveillance service at Åknes/Tafjord Beredskap IKS from 2015.

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Chief geologist Lars Helge Blikra at Åknes, the national center for avalanche surveillance, is also part of a research project on the connection between avalanches and climate change.

Some added 'personal touch' background on avalanches/tsunamis in Norway:

Coincidentally, both my grandmother on the father side AND my grandfather on the mother side were — independent of each other — in the Loen valley in Summer of 1936, shortly before the disastrous avalanche and tsunami there: A million m³ of rock from the 1493 m Raven Mountain crashed down into Lovatnet and caused a 74 m high tsunami killing everything in its way (74 people + cattle etc). 1936 was also a very hot year, so permafrost melt may have caused even that catastrophe.

41 people were killed in similar tsunamis in nearby Tafjord two years earlier, in 1934.

Further reading:

Climate change and Natural Disasters in Norway (pdf 2007)
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icefest

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Re: Permafrost Melt Danger getting primetime news coverage in Norway
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2014, 03:31:44 AM »
Some recent quotes about permafrost/climate change related to avalanches in the mainstream press:

Quote
Permafrost close to the melting point is particularly exposed as temperatures rise. Warming of the ground can cause huge instability, and in steep terrains soil and rocks can loosen and cause avalanches as permafrost thaws or disappears. The expected climate changes for coming decades will probably cause further changes to permafrost in Norway.

Wasn't a similar thing implied with the somewhat recent rockslide on Mt Cook?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/3598419/Global-warming-toppled-Mt-Cook

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827825.100-a-warming-world-could-leave-cities-flattened.html


And a really goo analysis of the topic: http://prezi.com/qjtu7tmt0sno/mount-cook-landslide-and-moraine-climate-change-and-its-effect-on-glacial-and-landslide-hazards/
Open other end.

viddaloo

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Re: Permafrost Melt Danger getting primetime news coverage in Norway
« Reply #4 on: October 27, 2014, 09:09:59 PM »
Thanks, icefest, that's very interesting.

At this moment I can't quite imagine what it will do to the Norwegian national psyche if our mountains start tumbling down. In fact, one of the most used cliches of national unity and consensus is:

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Agreed & faithful till Dovre falls!

I guess there will be total chaos when that happens.
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viddaloo

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Re: Permafrost Melt Danger getting primetime news coverage in Norway
« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2014, 12:22:41 AM »
Thanks to the deep valley and high standard Europe road, it's easy for even foreign news crews to move in and start broadcasting «Slow TV» from the «Mannen» mountain, which is happening now the last few days. «The Man» will probably collapse during the night or Thursday.
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Laurent

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Re: Permafrost Melt Danger getting primetime news coverage in Norway
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2014, 09:26:02 AM »
If you want to see the Tv in direct, it is here :
http://www.nrk.no/mr/fjellet-er-mer-svekket-enn-i-gar-1.12012687