Friesland Climate Change

Friesland, Netherlands

The Elfstedentocht

Climate Impact

The Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Tour) in Friesland, Netherlands is an ice skating course that covers a distance of 160 miles within one day but the last official tour completion was in 1997. Global warming has made it less likely for the tour to be hosted since the ice in the southern regions have not been thick enough (at least 6 inches) for competitor safety to be ensured.

Support

Alternatives

During colder high pressures, canal systems are adjusted to maximize ice formation.

An alternate Elfstedentocht is being held each year on the Weissensee: a mountain lake in Austria. The event hosts skaters on a track that can be looped for the full distance of the original Elfstendentocht.

The Fietselfstedentocht (Eleven towns by bicycle) was first held in 1912, with a start and finish in Bolsward.

Vatnajokull National Park, Iceland

Hosts numerous glaciers that experience the same loss in thickness from the ongoing anthropogenic climate warming.

Underneath the ice cape are several volcanoes that release heat into parts of the glaciers. Pools of melted water are sometimes combined with melt streams, leading to floods that can damage settlements.

Vatnajökull is Europe’s largest glacier by volume as it contains enough water to raise sea levels by one centimeter; it is also culturally unique in that Iceland was formed by volcanic fire to be then covered in ice.

Sources: https://elfstedentocht.frl/de-vereniging/historie/ | https://www.weissensee.nl/de-organisatie/ | https://web.archive.org/web/20110718072331/http://www.11steden.nl/pagina.asp?id=6170772 | https://www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/en/melting-glaciers/vatnajokullglacier