In Switzerland, glaciers have melted as much in the past two years as they did between 1960 and 1990.

The conclusion is clear: “Swiss glaciers are melting faster and faster.” A study conducted by the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences, Released on Thursday, September 28details‘Dramatic acceleration’ Melting Swiss glaciers. According to the team of experts, these rocks have melted in the past two years to the same extent as they melted between 1960 and 1990, under the influence of extreme weather conditions exacerbated by climate change.

The lack of snow in winter and very high temperatures in summer have led to a decrease in the size of these natural masterpieces by 10% between 2022 and 2023, as noted by scientists responsible for studying the cryosphere – all the masses of ice, snow and frozen ice. Earth exists on Earth.

The extreme years follow each other 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 decline since measurements began. “It’s a combination of a very bad sequence of extreme weather events and climate change.” This makes these extremes more likely, explains Matthias Haas, who heads the Swiss glaciological survey network Glamos. “If we continue at the pace we have seen in recent years – everything is going faster – every year will be a bad year.”Confirms.

“We have witnessed such strong changes in climate in recent years that it is quite possible to imagine this country without glaciers.”acknowledges the world, which nevertheless emphasizes that decisive action “climate stability”By reducing carbon dioxide emissions to zero as quickly as possible, it can help preserve the environment “A third of the ice is formed in Switzerland.”. this means “All the small glaciers will disappear and the big glaciers will be much smaller, but there will still be some ice in the upper parts of the Alps and some glaciers that we can show our grandchildren.”Mr. Haas wants to hope.

Alps “Europe’s water tower”

The melting affected the entire Alpine country, which is considered the water tower of Europe thanks to its 1,400 glaciers that feed countless lakes, rivers and streams. In southern and eastern Switzerland, glaciers melted almost to the same extent as in 2022. Thus, in the southern Valais (south) and in the Engadine (east), ice melting of several meters was measured at an altitude of more than 3,200 metres, while the glaciers were not Still balanced at this height a few years ago.

High temperatures this summer in Switzerland have pushed the zero degree limit – or isotherm – to record levels, at 5,298 metres, a level higher than the highest point in the country, Pointe Dufour (4,636 metres). During the winter of 2022-2023, very little snow fell on both sides of the Alps and it was very warm.

Very hot summers prevented the renewal of glaciers

Above 1,000 meters above sea level, during the first half of February, measured snow depths were generally slightly higher than during the snowless winters of 1964, 1990 or 2007. But melting reached new records during the half On February 2nd, snow depths were only about 30% of the multi-year average.

Also above 2000 metres, more than half of the automatic stations with a measuring series of at least twenty-five years displayed the new minimum records. A dry and very warm June caused the snowpack to melt two to four weeks earlier than usual. Conditions that prevented the renewal of glaciers.

According to the famous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, published last year, melting ice and snow is one of the ten major threats caused by global warming. According to another study published in January in the journal scienceHalf of the Earth’s glaciers are doomed to disappear by the end of the century if temperature rise is limited to +1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial period – the most ambitious goal of the Paris climate agreement.