@article {2539, title = {Age of the Mt.~Ortles ice cores, the Tyrolean Iceman and glaciation of the highest summit of South Tyrol since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum}, journal = {The Cryosphere}, volume = {10}, year = {2016}, month = {Jan-01-2016}, pages = {2779 - 2797}, abstract = {In 2011 four ice cores were extracted from the summit of Alto dell{\textquoteright}Ortles (3859 m), the highest glacier of South Tyrol in the Italian Alps. This drilling site is located only 37 km southwest from where the Tyrolean Iceman, \~{}5.3 kyrs old, was discovered emerging from the ablating ice field of Tisenjoch (3210 m, near the Italian{\textendash}Austrian border) in 1991. The excellent preservation of this mummy suggested that the Tyrolean Iceman was continuously embedded in prehistoric ice and that additional ancient ice was likely preserved elsewhere in South Tyrol. Dating of the ice cores from Alto dell{\textquoteright}Ortles based on 210Pb, tritium, beta activity and 14C determinations, combined with an empirical model (COPRA), provides evidence for a chronologically ordered ice stratigraphy from the modern glacier surface down to the bottom ice layers with an age of \~{}7 kyrs, which confirms the hypothesis. Our results indicate that the drilling site has continuously been glaciated on frozen bedrock since \~{}7 kyrs BP. Absence of older ice on the highest glacier of South Tyrol is consistent with the removal of basal ice from bedrock during the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum (6{\textendash}9 kyrs BP), the warmest interval in the European Alps during the Holocene. Borehole inclinometric measurements of the current glacier flow combined with surface ground penetration radar (GPR) measurements indicate that, due to the sustained atmospheric warming since the 1980s, an acceleration of the glacier Alto dell{\textquoteright}Ortles flow has just recently begun. Given the stratigraphic chronological continuity of the Mt. Ortles cores over millennia, it can be argued that this behaviour has been unprecedented at this location since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum.}, doi = {10.5194/tc-10-2779-2016}, url = {http://www.the-cryosphere.net/10/2779/2016/tc-10-2779-2016.pdf}, author = {Gabrielli, Paolo and Barbante, Carlo and Bertagna, Giuliano and {\'o}, Michele and Binder, Daniel and Carton, Alberto and Carturan, Luca and Cazorzi, Federico and Cozzi, Giulio and Dalla Fontana, Giancarlo and Davis, Mary and De Blasi, Fabrizio and Dinale, Roberto and {\`a}, Gianfranco and Dreossi, Giuliano and Festi, Daniela and Frezzotti, Massimo and Gabrieli, Jacopo and Galos, Stephan P. and Ginot, Patrick and Heidenwolf, Petra and Jenk, Theo M. and Kehrwald, Natalie and Kenny, Donald and Magand, Olivier and Mair, Volkmar and Mikhalenko, Vladimir and Lin, Ping Nan and Oeggl, Klaus and Piffer, Gianni and Rinaldi, Mirko and Schotterer, Ulrich and Schwikowski, Margit and Seppi, Roberto and Spolaor, Andrea and Stenni, Barbara and Tonidandel, David and Uglietti, Chiara and Zagorodnov, Victor and Zanoner, Thomas and Zennaro, Piero} }