Aneto Peak

Pyrenees, Spain

DATES: 2015-2020 | SATELLITE: SENTINEL 2 | CATEGORY: RECEDING GLACIERS

Situated at the northern end of the Massif of Maladeta at a height of just over 3,400 metres, Aneto Peak is the highest mountain in the Pyrenees. This great mountain range is home to several glaciers, with the Aneto glacier being the largest and thickest of all. This mass of ice, located on the peak’s north face, spreads over 90 Ha and is up to 50 metres thick in its densest areas. Although these figures denote a large amount of ice, this place has been witness to the receding of its mountain glaciers.

The global warming of the Earth in recent decades has increased the planet’s average temperature, and year after year, permanent ice sheets have grown thinner and lost surface area. In the Pyrenees, more than 40% of the glaciers have disappeared altogether in the last 30 years, according to the glaciologist-surveyor Jordi Camins, who affirms that the Aneto glacier has shrunk by nearly 80% since 1850. In the last few decades, the receding glacier has been fragmented into two ice masses, the eastern and western lobes.

High mountainous regions are one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. The difficult access and adverse weather conditions during most of the year make monitoring glaciers via fieldwork an arduous task apt solely for top experts.

Satellite images help track high mountain glaciers as they can make very accurate measurements of the surface extension without having to physically visit the area.

Maladeta Massif on August 3rd 2020. On the left, band combination in natural color (4-3-2) and on the right, band combination in false color (12-3-2). CC BY 4.0 Sentinel Hub EO Browser.

Aerial images cannot differentiate between the ice mass and the clouds, or between the discolouration of the ice and moraines. That is why we combine bands 12-3-2 to bring out the ice mass in a turquoise blue colour, while the other terrain is shown in brown tones.

This band combination even allows us to locate small snow beds and snowpack which has not melted through the summer.

Maladeta Massif on August 25th 2020. On the left, band combination in natural color (4-3-2) and on the right, band combination in false color (12-3-2). CC BY 4.0 Sentinel Hub EO Browser.

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