Bern, Europe Brief News – Switzerland has recorded the worst melt rate of its glaciers since monitoring began more than 100 years ago.
So far, Switzerland has lost six percent of their remaining volume this year or nearly double the previous record of 2003.
“2022 was a disastrous year for Swiss glaciers. All ice melt records were smashed by the great dearth of snow in winter and continuous heatwaves in summer,” said the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS).
“Melt rates have far exceeded the previous records from the hot summer of 2003: the glaciers have lost around 3 cubic kilometres (0.72 cubic miles) of ice in 2022; more than 6 percent of the remaining volume.”
Matthias Huss, head of GLAMOS, told the Reuters news agency that based on climate change projections, “this situation would come, at least somewhere 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,” he added.
The loss of ice melt was the most “dramatic” for small glaciers, the report said.
Significant losses occured even at the very highest measuring points. The Jungfraujoch mountain peaks at nearly 3,500 metres (11,483 feet).
