Swiss glaciers continue to melt despite better year
The retreat of Swiss glaciers over the last three decades has been “immense”, and is continuing.
Keystone / Arno Balzarini
Swiss glaciers this year recorded their lowest ice loss since 2013, but still lost 1% of their volume due to climate change, according to the Swiss Academy of Sciences.
This content was published on
1 minute
Keystone-SDA/jc
This is despite abundant snow in the winter and a relatively cool summer in 2021, the academy’s Cryospheric Commission said on TuesdayExternal link.
While the retreat of Swiss glaciers over the last three decades has been “immense”, the conditions were right in 2021 to give the glaciers a breather, it continued. “Unfortunately, in times of climate change, even a ‘good’ year is not good enough for the glaciers. The loss of ice continued, albeit at a slower pace.”
Measurements by Swiss glacier monitoring network GLAMOS documented ice loss on all 22 glaciers measured. Although the losses were smaller than in recent years, no gains were recorded for any of the glaciers. It can be assumed that this applies to the vast majority of Swiss glaciers, although there may be a few exceptions at special locations like small glaciers with a lot of avalanche snow, head of GLAMOS Matthias Huss told Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA.
Glaciers in the northern Valais (southwest Switzerland) came closest to equilibrium, he said. Glaciers in southern Valais, in Ticino and in the east, however, suffered almost the same losses as the average of the last ten years.
More
Why melting glaciers affect us all
Alpine glaciers could disappear by the end of the century. The consequences will be felt not only in the Swiss Alps but throughout Europe.
What can be done to protect biodiversity in your country?
Swiss voters are set to decide on a people’s initiative calling for better protection of ecosystems in the country. Have your say on the September 22 vote.
Vodafone Italia: Swisscom notifies Italian competition commission
This content was published on
Swisscom has filed a formal notification with the Italian competition authority concerning its mid-March acquisition of Vodafone Italia.
SWISS prolongs suspension of flights to Beirut and Tel Aviv
This content was published on
Swiss international airlines is extending the suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel and Beirut in Lebanon until August 21.
This content was published on
Zurich Zoo euthanised 49-year-old elephant Ceyla-Himali on Saturday morning. The animal had been suffering from long-standing health problems.
Swiss wages likely to stay flat except for hotel and IT staff
This content was published on
Real wage growth looks set to be flat for most sectors as companies continue to align their wage projections with those for inflation.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.