Swiss glaciers lost 10% of their volume in two years

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, glaciers have melted as much in the past two years as they did between 1960 and 1990 due to climate change.

The research shows that glaciers will have 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.”

Extreme years follow each other and are comparable: after losing 6% of their volume in 2022, a record year, the Swiss glaciers melted another 4% this year.

According to the research, this is the second largest decline since measurements began.

“It’s a combination of the terrible sequence of climate extremes and climate change,” explains Matthias Huss, head of the Swiss Glaciological Research Network (Glamos).

The scientist said there is an urgent need to move forward with measures to help preserve glaciers.

“We have seen such dramatic changes in the climate in recent years that it is perfectly possible to imagine this country without glaciers,” he says. acknowledges the scientist, who nevertheless emphasizes that decisive action is needed to “stabilize the climate” and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to zero as quickly as possible,” he stressed.

In southern and eastern Switzerland, glaciers have melted almost as much as during the record year 2022.

The dry, 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 are among 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 temperature increases are limited to 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial times – the most ambitious goal. period of the Paris climate agreement.