After what may have been the worst summer for glaciers ever, snow is finally beginning to fall in Europe’s Alps. It is very much needed.
In the 19 years I’ve been visiting and studying the Swiss glaciers, I have never seen a summer like 2022. The magnitude of change is incredible.
Glaciologists, like me, used the term “extreme” for annual ice loss around 2 percent of a glacier’s total volume. In Switzerland, the average loss of ice from glaciers this year has been 2.2 percent. 6.2% of their ice – extreme indeed.
The new snow flurries will create a protective blanket that shields and reflect 90% of the Sun’s radiation into the atmosphere. It also limits the melting and warming of the ice below.
The mass of a glacier increases when snow is deposited in the winter and doesn’t melt in the summer. Over several years, gravity would overtake and glaciers would begin moving downhill.
But this has not been true over the last century. However, the snow’s protective layers have not been sufficient to offset the summer heat. All over the world, glaciers have been disappearingSince the beginning of the little glacier age in the mid-late 1800s.
Saharan sand. Huge heatwave
This summer. The previous winter in the Alps had very little snowfall, so the glaciers weren’t well insulated against the summer melt season.
Spring was especially harsh because of the natural atmospheric weather patterns that were carried Saharan dustIt traveled to Europe and covered the Alpine landscape. Because dust absorbs more sunlight than snow (which, by definition, is whiter and more reflective), the orange-tinted snow melts faster than ever.
A major heatwave then saw temperatures records broken across Europe. Parts of the UK also experienced record-breaking heat. reaching 40 °CIt was the first time. The Alps weren’t spared. For instance, Zermatt, a famous car-free Swiss village in the shadow of the Matterhorn, recorded temperatures up to 33 °C despite being 1,620 meters above sea level.
Particularly the glaciers took a beating. The Alps were looking like they do in September, except that there was no snow, and rivers that are ice-fed had been flowing at their highest. This was not the norm.
The last extreme melt season in glaciers occurred in 2003, when temperatures in Europe were extremely high and heatwaves killed more than 30,000 people in France. The following year was that calendar year. 3.8 percent glacier ice melted across Switzerland.
Zermatt has closed its summer skiing for the first year in a row. Guides stopped leading high mountain expeditions as permafrost – the frozen ground that binds rocks together – was thawing and causing almost constant rockfalls. Mont Blanc was shut down.
50 years worth of data
This is possible thanks to the work of the charitable organization. Alpine Glacier ProjectThe, which was founded in 1972 and, together with the University of SalfordMy employer,, has led scientific expeditions near Zermatt for the past 50 years.
Students have contributed to the observation of the effects of climate change by topographically surveying the landscape, chemically monitoring meltwater changes and taking photos of the same location over the years.
Gorner Glacier’s and Findel Glacier’s retractions over the course of the five decades have been 1,385 and 1,655 meters, respectively.
These glacial meltwaters can be used in Switzerland for hydropower. Water falling on the contrary is actually quite common. Switzerland: 93%Before ever leaving the country, the vehicle must pass through at least one power plant.
The melting glaciers fill in the reservoirs that supply energy to the nation, compensating for low rainfall during drought times.
One could argue that not all glaciers were directly affected by the summer’s ice loss and catastrophic retreat. This is partially true.
The altitude of the glacier, its tongue and the amount of debris it has covered will all affect the extent to which it melts. Other climate factors could also play a role.
But, research is key. PubliziertIt has been shown that Austrian glaciers also lost more glacial glacier ice in 2022 that they did in 70 years of observation. Therefore, it is clear that severe melting has been the norm for 2022.
It is breathtaking to see the high-mountain landscapes. However, I fear that this year’s continued ice melting and extreme temperatures will not be an exception.
There are many other glaciers that could be lost completely within a generation.
Neil EntwistleProfessor of River Science & Climate Resilience. University of Salford
This article has been republished from The ConversationUnder a Creative Commons License Learn more Original article.
