A snowy winter did little to halt the rapid decline of Switzerland's glaciers, which lost 2.4% of their volume over the past year, according to a recent study by Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS).
The study revealed that the past 12 months were \"exceptional both in terms of accumulation and melt,\" highlighting the complex dynamics driving glacier changes.
While there is widespread concern about accelerated glacier melt due to human-induced climate change, the ice loss this year was less severe than the over 10% lost in 2022 and 2023. Typically, annual volume loss in recent decades has ranged between one and three percent.
This year's 2.4% shrinkage surpasses the 1.9% annual average between 2010 and 2020, amounting to another \"massive loss of ice,\" said GLAMOS head Matthias Huss.
Huss warned that the glaciers \"are retreating faster and faster\" and are \"on track to disappear.\" He emphasized that \"They will only be there in 100 years if we manage to stabilize the climate.\"
Reference(s):
Despite snowy winter, Swiss glaciers 'on track to disappear'
cgtn.com
