Exploring ice in the deep

The occurrence of sporadic permafrost in the Alps often needs challenging fieldworks in order to be investigated. Here in the high altitude karstic plateau of Mt. Canin-Kanin (2587 m asl) in the Julian Alps (southeastern European Alps) several permanent ice deposits have been recently investigated highlighting how also in such more resilient environments global warming is acting rapidly. Important portions of the underground cryosphere are actually rapidly melting, loosing valuable paleoarchives contained in the ice.