Snow in high mountains: a living environment, a white ocean

You can replay the entire conference at the folowing link:

• A dedicated link from the Kilian Jornet Foundation : https://www.kilianjornetfoundation.org/grenoble/
• Kilian Jornet facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/kilianjornet/videos/624741352053989
• Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axEDks9s3ZQ&t=8738s
• Our video gallery: https://alpalga.fr/videos/

The mountain is undergoing an unprecedented and spectacular evolution striking all of us, inhabitants, walkers, hikers, skiers, lovers of its natural spaces. To understand these transformations and perhaps predict them, it is necessary to rely on appropriate scientific knowledge. However, the mountain is still mysterious in many ways. Grenoble researchers (CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes, Météo-France, CEA and INRAE), experts in biology, glaciology and ecology have come together to form the ALPALGA consortium. They explore a microscopic and little-known living world that populates the snow at high altitudes, starting with pioneer organisms, microalgae. More and more often, these algae color the snow red. The KILIAN JORNET FOUNDATION supports them.

The conference is organized by ALPALGA, the KILIAN JORNET FOUNDATION and MAISON DE LA MONTAGNE de GRENOBLE.

Together with Kilian JORNET, who will report questions posed by high-level athletes in their current and future practices, the director of the Center for Snow Studies, Marie DUMONT (CNRS, Météo-France), and the director of the Cell and Plant Physiology Laboratory, Eric MARECHAL (CNRS), will present the most recent data on living snow and the evolution of this white ocean in the context of global warming.

A round table/debate will follow in the presence of mountain actors including Jean-Gabriel VALAY (Grenoble Alpes University), director of the Jardin du Lautaret, Pierre GIGNOUX, an entrepreneur wishing to develop new approaches that respect the environment, and Benoit NENERT, organiser of the États Généraux de la Transition du Tourisme en Montagne. The debate will be open to questions from the public.