An international team of alpinists, researchers and photographers of the Italian-led mission "On the Trails of the Glaciers - Caucasus 2011" is working in Georgia since July 29th. The photographical-scientific project, headed by "MacroMicro", an Italian no-profit association, and patronised by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aims at better studying climate change on the basis of the effects concerning the most important mountain glaciers of the planet. The team will head to Georgian Caucasus (Svaneti) to take pictures and make glaciological measurements. A specialized TV troupe will follow it throughout the period in order to shoot a high-definition documentary.
The team is composed by the photographer Fabiano Ventura, the glaciologists Kenneth Hewitt and Riccardo Scotti, the director Marco Preti and the cameraman Luca Venchiarutti. A Scientific Committee will follow the team's work. Such a Committee is constituted by internationally recognized scientists such as Claudio Smiraglia (Professor of Science at the State University of Milan), Kenneth Hewitt (Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies and researcher at the "Cold Regions Research Centre" of the Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo-Ontario, Canada), Christoph Mayer (Emeritus Professor of the Science Academy in Munich and member of the German Glaciers' Studies Commission) and Dr Stefano Urbini, member of the National Research Institute of Vulcanology and Geophysics of Rome.
"During the expedition - explains Fabiano Ventura, photographer and project director - the glaciers' experts will collect data through field measurements and pictures, that, compared to those taken by late-Nineteenth century explorers, will provide an important contribution to the study of climate change. We would therefore like to raise public opinion's awareness on the sustainable management of natural resources".
According to "MacroMicro", the mission will follow the same paths of the pioneers of the past, such as Vittorio Sella (expeditions of 1889, 1890 and 1896), Mario Piacenza (1910), Vittorio Ronchetti (early-Twentieth century), Andrea Pollitzer (1929), Hermann Woolley, Albert Frederik Mummery, Douglas William Freshfield, Mor Dechy as well as Vilem Heckel.
The expedition, which will last until 1st September 2011, is the second stage of an ambitious plan of five expeditions to three different continents: to Karakorum in 2009, to Caucasus today; then to Alaska, to the Andes and to the Alps. At the end of the mission, a press conference will be also organized at the Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome to illustrate the scientific results achieved by "MacroMicro" in Georgia.
The expedition can be followed, both in English and in Italian languages, on the association's website: www.macromicro.it.