Swiss glaciers have lost record amounts of ice over the past two years

The volume lost by Swiss glaciers during the hot summers of 2022 and 2023 is equivalent to the volume lost between 1960 and 1990. In two years, what previously took at least 30. High temperatures have even led to the disappearance of many of the smallest glaciers, reports the Swiss Glacier Monitor (GLAMOS).

This year, Swiss glaciers have lost another 4% of their volume. This is the second largest loss in historyafter a record melt of 6% last year, the latest report from the organization, coordinated by the Swiss Academy of Sciences, highlights.

Massive ice loss has affected the whole of Switzerland, with glaciers in the south and east of the country melting this year at almost the same rate as in 2022. This is the result of very little snow winters and very hot summers. .

Earlier this month, NASA reported that last summer in the northern hemisphere was the warmest on record. July and August last year are the months with the highest average global temperatures so far.

Climate change affects Swiss glacier ice

The effect of heat is greater due to the lack of precipitation. Snow levels, for example, fell to a new record in the second half of February, reaching only about 30% of the long-term average. More than half of the automated stations at altitudes above 2,000 meters with a series of measurements going back at least 25 years also showed new record low levels.

More than half of the Alps’ glaciers are located in Switzerland. In this mountainous region, climate change is causing temperatures to rise to about twice the global average.

Scientists from GLAMOS, which monitors 176 glaciers, have stopped measuring ice on some glaciers because there is virtually no ice left. For example, he suspended analysis of the St. Annafirn glacier in the central Swiss canton of Uri because it had already almost completely melted.

“All we have left is dead ice.”said Matthias Huss, Director of GLAMOS, The keeper. “It’s a combination of climate change that makes these extreme events more likely, and a very bad combination of extreme weather events.”

The global climate emergency is getting worse

The scientific community insisted ad nauseum: There is an urgent need to stop the emissions of polluting gases. This is the only way to prevent global warming from exceeding pre-industrial levels by 1.5 degrees. However, even if this goal were achieved, the forecast shows that According to Huss, only a third of the volume of glaciers in Switzerland will remain.

At least “there will be some ice and glaciers in the highest regions of the Alps that we can show to our grandchildren,” commented the GLAMOS director. The level of melting is visible. The organization discovered the formation of new lakes near the tongues of glaciers. Also clean any rocks that stick out from the ice. Even human bodies that have been lost for many years have been found.

But it’s not just the landscape that is changing. Ice that slowly melts in summer provides fresh water for Europe’s rivers. Many crops depend on its supply. If heating does not stop, Almost all glaciers in the Alps could disappear by 2100.

It occurs in the Alps, but also occurs in the Himalayas and Antarctica. Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain region in Asia have melted 65% faster between 2010 and 2019, compared to the previous decade. And at the end of February this year, sea ice extent in Antarctica reached its lowest level since records began: reached a minimum of 1,789 square kilometers.