The glaciers of Switzerland lost 6% of their total volume this year due to a dry winter and successive summer heat waves, which "they pulverized" melting records in 2022, according to a report released on Wednesday.
The study by the Cryospheric Commission (CC) of the Swiss Academy of Sciences showed the magnitude of the loss of glaciers, which it’s only going to get worse in the future.
"2022 was a disastrous year for Swiss glaciers: all melting records were smashed"said the CC, according to which a loss of 2% in 12 months was previously considered as "extreme".
Three cubic kilometers of ice have meltedaccording to the report.
"It is not possible to stop the melting in the short term"said glaciology professor Matthias Huss, head of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland, which documents long-term changes in glaciers in the Alps and is coordinated by the CC.
By reducing carbon dioxide emissions and protecting the climate, "a third of the total volume could be saved in Switzerland in the best case"he told AFP.
On the other hand, the country "will have lost everything by the end of the century".
Sahara dust
At the beginning of the year, snow cover in the Alps was exceptionally light, and then a large volume of sand dust arrived from the Sahara desert between March and May and settled on the surface.
Contaminated snow now absorbs more heat and melts faster, depriving glaciers of their protective layer for early European summer.
The constant heat between May and early September washed away the glacial ice.
By mid-September, the once-thick ice sheet covering the passage between the Scex Rouge and Tsanfleuron glaciers had completely melted, exposing rocks that had been covered in ice since at least the Roman era.
At the beginning of July, the collapse of a sector of the Marmolada glacier, the largest in the Italian Alps, left 11 dead and highlighted the seriousness of the situation.
According to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published in February, melting ice and snow is one of the 10 threats of climate change.
– Small glaciers affected -"The loss was especially dramatic for small glaciers"according to CC.
The Pizol, Vadret dal Corvatsch and Schwarzbachfirn glaciers "have practically disappeared, measurements were discontinued"the commission noted.
In the Engadine and South Valais regions, both in the south, "a layer of ice four to six meters thick at 3,000 meters above sea level disappeared"indicates the report.
Significant losses were also recorded even at the highest measurement points, such as the Jungfraujoch mountain at almost 3,500 metres.
"The observations reveal that many glaciers are disintegrating and that chunks of rock are poking through the thin ice between the glaciers. These processes are accelerating the decline"indicates the report.
"Trend reveals importance of glaciers for water and energy supply in hot, dry years"adds the document, a relevant issue given that 60% of electricity in Switzerland comes from hydro sources.
The water from the melting glaciers in July and August this year would have provided enough water to completely fill all the reservoirs in the Swiss Alps.
But Huss said that if the country returns to 2022 weather conditions in 50 years, "the impact would be much stronger, because in 50 years we expect that almost all the glaciers will have disappeared and therefore they would not provide water for a hot and dry summer".
macabre findings
Glacial melting also had unexpected consequences.
Hikers often face ghoulish finds when they come across bodies released from the ice that has locked them up for decades or even centuries.
For archaeologists, it can be an incentive, because they suddenly have access to objects that are thousands of years old.
Meanwhile, the melting of a glacier between Italy and Switzerland has changed the border that ran along the watershed, forcing lengthy diplomatic negotiations.
