- Title: Worst melt year on record for Swiss glaciers, data shows
- Date: 28th September 2022
- Summary: EVOLENE, SWITZERLAND (AUGUST 29, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) MELT WATER RUNNING / MONT MINE GLACIER VARIOUS OF GLACIER ICE MELTING OBERGOMS, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 1, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) RHONE GLACIER / ICE CAVE AT THE END OF GLACIER COVERED WITH SHEETING WATER RUNNING OBERGOMS, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 2, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) GRIER GLACIER GLACIOLOGISTS WALKING ON GLACIER (MUTE) GLACIOLOGISTS WALKING ON GLACIER GLACIOLOGIST AT THE ETH ZURICH AND HEAD OF SWISS GLACIER MONITORING NETWORK (GLAMOS), MATTHIAS HUSS, HOLDING A 6.5-METRE MEASURING POLE ON GLACIER (SOUNDBITE) (French) GLACIOLOGIST AT THE ETH ZURICH AND HEAD OF SWISS GLACIER MONITORING NETWORK (GLAMOS), MATTHIAS HUSS, SAYING: “So more than the height of this measuring pole, melted since September last year. It’s not even a whole year.†(SOUNDBITE) (French) GLACIOLOGIST AT THE ETH ZURICH AND HEAD OF SWISS GLACIER MONITORING NETWORK (GLAMOS), MATTHIAS HUSS, SAYING: “The melting season has not ended yet, but we can see there is more ice melting than 2003 for example and also than the past years, like 2020.†ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 26, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HUSS LOOKING AT GRAPHIC ON LAPTOP SHOWING ICE MASS MEASUREMENT FOR 2022 (SOUNDBITE) (English) GLACIOLOGIST AT THE ETH ZURICH AND HEAD OF SWISS GLACIER MONITORING NETWORK (GLAMOS), MATTHIAS HUSS, SAYING: “If we compare the lost that we had in this year to the total ice volume that is still remaining, we’ve lost about six percent of the total volume. This is enormous, it’s much more than the previous record of 2003, there was 3.8 percent. In terms of meters, we’ve lost about three to four meters of ice thickness on average. Meaning that a layer of three to four metres has been removed from every glacier in Switzerland.†EVOLENE, SWITZERLAND (AUGUST 29, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ICE MELTING (MUTE) ICE MELTING / MONT MINE GLACIER ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 26, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GLACIOLOGIST AT THE ETH ZURICH AND HEAD OF SWISS GLACIER MONITORING NETWORK (GLAMOS), MATTHIAS HUSS, SAYING: “It was really shocking and surprising to see how much melting actually can occur. Because we’ve seen many years with strong melting in the last decade. However, coming to a site and measuring twice as much as the previous maximum, this is really big surprise. Although I also have to say, maybe it’s not a full surprise, because we knew with climate scenarios that this situation would come, at least somewhen in the future. And realising that the future is already right here, right now, this was maybe the most surprising or shocking experience of this summer.†OBERGOMS, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 1, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) RHONE GLACIER PEOPLE ON GLACIER VARIOUS OF VISITORS IN THE ICE CAVE IN FRONT OF A SWISS FLAG ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 26, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GLACIOLOGIST AT THE ETH ZURICH AND HEAD OF SWISS GLACIER MONITORING NETWORK (GLAMOS), MATTHIAS HUSS, SAYING: “The results for the Swiss Glaciers of '22 are really worrying. We’ve lost as much ice as never before since measurements started, more than 100 years ago. We’ve lost an enormous quantity of ice, much more than the previous record of 2003. And of course, this is a problem, because this ice is off for always basically.†EVOLENE, SWITZERLAND (AUGUST 29, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WATERFALL BELOW MONT MINE GLACIER (MUTE) WATER RUNNING ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 26, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GLACIOLOGIST AT THE ETH ZURICH AND HEAD OF SWISS GLACIER MONITORING NETWORK (GLAMOS), MATTHIAS HUSS, SAYING: “First of all, we’ve had very little snow during wintertime. So, in April, the situation was already very bad. No protective layer for the ice. And then we’ve had the very warm summer, with continuous heatwaves and the combination of these two factors resulted in this enormous mass loss.†EVOLENE, SWITZERLAND (AUGUST 29, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) WATER RUNNING / MONT MINE GLACIER WATER RUNNING OBERGOMS, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 1, 2022) (REUTERS) LAKE / RHONE GLACIER (MUTE) SHEETING ON ICE CAVE ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 26, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GLACIOLOGIST AT THE ETH ZURICH AND HEAD OF SWISS GLACIER MONITORING NETWORK (GLAMOS), MATTHIAS HUSS, SAYING: “The ice lost in the summer in the Swiss Alps corresponds to about three cubic kilometres of ice, so it’s three blocs of one cubic (kilo)metre long, high and width and this is 3 billion cubic metres of ice or 3 trillion litres of water. And with that water, you could fill up all hydropower reservoirs in the Swiss Alps and this indicates how important this additional water coming from glacier is for hydropower production and water availability.†OBERGOMS, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 2, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) HUSS AND HIS TEAM WORKING ON GRIER GLACIER VARIOUS OF GLACIOLOGISTS DRILLING IN THE ICE HUSS PLANTING MEASURING POLE GLACIOLOGISTS WALKING ON GLACIER (MUTE) HUSS WORKING ON GLACIER VARIOUS OF HUSS ADJUSTING MEASURING POLE AND PLANTING IT IN THE ICE (MUTE) GRIER GLACIER
- Embargoed: 12th October 2022 08:06
- Keywords: Switzerland climate change glacier heatwave ice melting retreat temperature
- Location: EVOLENE, OBERGOMS AND ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
- City: EVOLENE, OBERGOMS AND ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Environment,Europe,Temperature,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001834527092022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Swiss glaciers have recorded their worst melt rate since records began more than a century ago, losing 6% of their remaining volume this year or nearly double the previous record of 2003, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Wednesday (September 28).
The melt was so extreme this year that bare rock that had remained buried for millenia re-emerged at one site, while bodies and even a plane lost elsewhere in the Alps decades ago were recovered. Other small glaciers all but vanished.
"We knew with climate scenarios that this situation would come, at least somewhere in the future," Matthias Huss, head of the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS) told Reuters in Zurich on Monday (September 26). "And realising that the future is already right here, right now, this was maybe the most surprising or shocking experience of this summer."
More than half of the glaciers in the Alps are in Switzerland where temperatures are rising by around twice the global average.
Scientists across the Alps, including Huss, have had to do emergency repair work at dozens of sites across the Alps as melting ice risked dislodging measuring poles and disrupting data collection.
“The results for the Swiss Glaciers of '22 are really worrying. We’ve lost as much ice as never before since measurements started, more than 100 years ago. We’ve lost an enormous quantity of ice, much more than the previous record of 2003. And of course, this is a problem, because this ice is off for always, basically,†Huss said.
The heavy losses this year, which amounted to about 3 cubic km of ice, were the result of exceptionally low winter snowfall combined with back-to-back summer heatwaves. Snowfall replenishes ice lost each summer and helps protect glaciers from further melt by reflecting sunlight back to the atmosphere.
If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, the Alps' glaciers are expected to lose more than 80% of their current mass by 2100. Many will disappear regardless of any emissions action taken now, thanks to global warming baked in by past emissions, according to a 2019 report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
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