Swiss glaciers lost 10% of their volume in two years due to worsening weather conditions and climate change, according to a study by the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences.
According to the group of experts responsible for the study, in the last two years glaciers have melted as much as between 1960 and 1990 due to climate change.
The study indicates that glaciers lost 10% of their volume between 2022 and 2023 due to little snow in winter and very high temperatures in summer.
The conclusion of the study is clear: “Swiss glaciers are melting faster and faster.”
The extreme years follow one another and are similar: after losing 6% of their volume in 2022, a record year, Swiss glaciers melted another 4% this year.
This is the second largest drop since measurements began, according to the study.
“It is a combination of the terrible succession of climatic extremes and climate change,” explains Matthias Huss, director of the Swiss glaciological research network (Glamos).
The scientist stated that it is urgent to move forward with measures that help preserve the glaciers.
“We have seen such strong climate changes in recent years that it is perfectly possible to imagine this country without glaciers,” acknowledges the scientist, who nevertheless emphasizes that it is necessary to act decisively to “stabilize the climate”, reducing carbon dioxide emissions ( CO2). to zero as quickly as possible,” he stressed.
In southern and eastern Switzerland, glaciers have melted almost as much as during the record year of 2022.
The dry and very hot month of last June caused the snow to melt two to four weeks earlier than normal, conditions that prevented the glaciers from regenerating.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published last year, melting ice and snow is one of the top 10 threats caused by global warming.
According to another study, published in January in the journal Science, half of the Earth’s glaciers are doomed to disappear by the end of the century if the increase in temperatures is limited to 1.5 °C compared to the pre-industrial period, the objective more ambitious. period of the Paris climate agreement.
Source: TSF
