Glaciers in Central Europe are vanishing at an unprecedented rate, with the Swiss Commission for Cryospheric Observation (SCC) of the Swiss Academy of Sciences releasing a report on Thursday that indicates the most rapid ice loss in recorded history.
According to the SCC report, Switzerland’s glaciers have suffered a staggering 10% reduction in volume in just two years of extreme heat.
This alarming trend marks a record-breaking 6% volume loss in 2022, followed by an additional 4% in 2023. Previously, years witnessing a 2% ice loss were deemed “extreme.”
The data reveals that the ice loss in the last two years matches that which occurred over the three decades between 1960 and 1990.
The disintegration of glacier tongues and the disappearance of many smaller glaciers have resulted from consecutive years of diminished winter snowfall and elevated summer temperatures.
The precarious situation was further exacerbated by an alarming lack of snowfall. The unusually warm winter at the close of 2022 and the start of 2023 left measuring sites with considerably less snow cover than usual.
A European Union climate report earlier this year underscored 2022 as the year with the most extensive Alpine glacier retreat on record.
In the southern and eastern regions of Switzerland, the rate of glacier melting in 2023 nearly matched the record pace observed in 2022.
An average ice melt of three meters was documented at altitudes exceeding 3,200 meters, significantly surpassing measurements from the unusually hot summer of 2003.
This elevation was historically an equilibrium point for glaciers but has recently faced dramatic alterations due to climate change.
Conditions at altitudes exceeding 1,000 meters also presented challenges. While the first half of February showed slightly higher snow coverage compared to low-snow winters in 1964, 1990, and 2007, the second half of the month set new record lows with coverage plummeting to just 30% of the long-term average.
Spring briefly saw a return to normal conditions; however, a dry and exceptionally warm June resulted in snow melting two to four weeks earlier than usual.
The third-warmest summer ever recorded, with temperatures nearing freezing until September, further hampered the glaciers as summer snowfalls quickly dissipated, offering little assistance.
