Climate alarmists rush to blame every natural disaster on global warming. Recently they blamed a massive rock slide in Switzerland on a warming planet. Yet, geologists say there’s no link.
Hat-tip: Die kalte Sonne.
Last year, August, 2017, a massive rockslide occurred on the north flank of the Piz Cengalo (3369 m) in the Swiss Alps, above the village of Bondo, located near the border to Italy.
Thanks to an early warning system, no one in the village of Bondo below was killed. However the impressive rock slide did claim the lives of 8 climbers.
No data suggesting warming is behind rock slides
In total some 4 million tonnes of rock and mud came tumbling down. The dramatic incident highlighted the hazards posed by rock slides for villages located near the picturesque mountains of the European Alps.
Though rockslides are not unusual, there has been growing scrutiny behind their causes lately. Unsurprisingly climate alarmists are opportunistically pointing the finger at climate warming.
According to the alarmists, rising temperatures are causing the permafrost in the mountains to thaw and so lead to portions of the mountains coming unglued and cascading dangerously down into the valleys and villages below.
The Swiss SRF public broadcasting reported here how Swiss Minister of Environment Doris Leuthard came up with the explanation just hours after the incident: “Climate change”.
According to Leuthard: “Such incidents will continue to occur.”
No link to warming – tend to occur in cold, rainy weather
However, one expert geologist disagrees, the SRF reports: University of Bern geologist Ueli Gruner told the SRF:
No relationship between heat and rock slides can be made – in colder and wet weather there can tend to be even more rockslides.”
According to Gruner, large rock slides (more than 1 million cubic meters) tend to occur every 5 to 10 years. The SRF reports that so far no data supporting a higher frequency of rock slides are available.
The SRF adds:
However, heat fundamentally even has a positive effect, says the geologist [Gruner): From experience, stone behaves in a more stable manner than when it’s cold, snow melts and rain enters into the cracks.”
via NoTricksZone
September 23, 2018 at 07:18AM
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