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\u00a9 GLAMOS 1881-2023, The Swiss Glaciers 1880-2022\/23, Glaciological Reports No 1-142, Yearbooks of the Cryospheric Commission of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT)<\/p>\nAs Europe emerges from one of its strongest and longest heatwaves on record, its consequences are already being felt in Switzerland, where all the snow and ice accumulated over the past winter are expected to have melted away by early next week, a phenomenon that normally does not occur until mid-August.<\/p>\n
According to the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland network (GLAMOS), every additional day of melting between now and October, when the first new snowfalls normally return to the Alps, will directly reduce the size of Swiss glaciers.<\/p>\n
Data collection on what is known as \u201cglacier loss day\u201d began more than twenty years ago. It is perhaps somewhat reassuring that this year\u2019s date is not the earliest on record: that unfortunate distinction still belongs to 26 June 2022.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 GLAMOS 1881-2023, The Swiss Glaciers 1880-2022\/23, Glaciological Reports No 1-142, Yearbooks of the Cryospheric Commission of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT)<\/p>\n
GLAMOS director Matthias Huss warned on Friday, however, that Swiss glaciers are currently in a very bad shape and are melting at an unprecedented rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are just seeing enormous ablation, ice melt rates and snow melt rates all over the Alps,\u201d Huss said, adding that conditions were \u201cthree months too early compared to a healthy state.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Alps have been shrinking for the past 170 years, but the pace has accelerated sharply in recent decades as temperatures have risen across Europe while snowfall has declined.<\/p>\n
This year, the average snowfall over the glaciers was about 25% below the average recorded between 2010 and 2020. It matters because once the snow cover is gone, the glacier itself, essentially the darker grey ice underneath, becomes exposed and dark ice absorbs solar radiation far more readily than reflective snow, accelerating the melt.<\/p>\n
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\u00a9 GLAMOS<\/p>\n
Huss explained that he had recently returned to the Rh\u00f4ne Glacier and was struck by the changes he had witnessed in only ten days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was one metre of ice melted in the vertical direction\u2009\u2013\u2009one metre of melting within just the last 10 days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very impressive to see, and this is just the effect of the heatwave.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more days that are added with very high temperatures, not even mattering whether it\u2019s 35\u00a0\u00b0C or 40\u00a0\u00b0C, this is just very bad for the glaciers.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Huss, the \u201cvery bad state of the glaciers at the moment\u201d results from a \u201ccombination of bad circumstances\u201d, including reduced snowfall and the arrival of Saharan dust in March, which darkened the snow surface and sped up melting even before summer began.<\/p>\n