Swiss NGO uses woollen blankets to reduce glacier melt

NGO plans to protect glaciers with woollen blankets Keystone-SDA

Sheep’s wool instead of plastic? An experiment on a glacier in canton Vaud in western Switzerland shows that this natural material slows down ice melt just as effectively as conventional protective tarpaulins.

For the “Keep it Wool” experiment, two blankets made of sheep’s wool, each measuring 100 square metres, were laid out at Glacier 3000 in Les Diablerets at the end of June. The NGO Summit Foundation carried out the experiment in collaboration with the University of Lausanne. Scientific supervision was provided by staff from the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (Glamos).

According to the NGO, initial observations showed promising results. The protective effect of the sheep’s wool material is said to be very similar to that of synthetic tarpaulins. These reduce glacier melt in the covered areas by 50% to 70%. Wool therefore represents an interesting alternative with a lower environmental impact.

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Unlike the synthetic-fibre textiles used to date, there is no risk of particles from wool entering the water cycle. Wool is also a natural, renewable and biodegradable raw material that has often gone unused until now.

However, the Summit Foundation warned that protective tarpaulins alone are not the answer to glacier retreat. At present, such textiles cover only around 0.02% of the total glacier area. This is too little to have a significant effect on the glacier retreat caused by climate change.

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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.