The volume of Switzerland’s glaciers shrank again this summer, compounding the negative impact of climate change after a devastating two-year run that depleted the ice by more than 10%, scientific experts reported Tuesday.
The cryosphere observation team at the Swiss Academy of Sciences reported that high temperatures in July and August, combined with the heat-absorbing impact of reddish-yellow dust blown northward from the Sahara Desert onto Swiss glaciers, led to a loss of 2.5% of their volume this year.
The shrinkage came despite “extremely favorable” conditions through June, the academy said, thanks to 30% more snowfall in the preceding winter compared to average levels, meaning that the glaciers had an extra layer of protective covering of snow — before temperatures rose.
“August saw the greatest loss of ice recorded since measurements began,” the academy said in a statement summarizing the findings.
“The retreat of the glacier tongues and their disintegration continue unabated as a result of climate change,” it said, adding that the 2.5% loss of volume was higher than the average levels over the last decade.
Experts at the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland network, known as GLAMOS, said that more than half of the glaciers it monitored completely lost their snow coverage throughout the summer.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Faith N
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.offthepress.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
