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Glacier in Obergom in Switzerland: covered with white sheets for protection (picture from July)
Photo: Andreas Haas / IMAGO
Almost half of Switzerland's glacier ice melted - between 1931 and 2016. According to the measurement data from the Glamos glacier measurement network, the ice loss has even accelerated since 2016, as researchers from ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL ) based on old photos and data in the specialist magazine »The Cryosphere«.
Accordingly, the ice volume of the glaciers has shrunk by a further twelve percent in the past six years.
Many glaciers are melting due to global warming, and the effect has been described especially for the 21st century.
For the period from 1931 onwards, the scientists had, among other things, photos from surveyors who had taken photos at around 7,000 locations in the first half of the 20th century and had covered around 86 percent of the glaciated area of Switzerland.
The researchers were able to use these photos to estimate the volume and compare it with more recent measurements.
“Even though there has been growth over shorter periods of time, it's still important to look at the bigger picture.
Our comparison between the years 1931 and 2016 clearly shows that there was a significant retreat of glaciers during this period,” said ETH glaciologist Daniel Farinotti.
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Not all glaciers were equally affected.
"How much the volume has decreased depends essentially on three factors: firstly, at what height the glaciers are, secondly, how flat the glacier tongue runs out, and thirdly, how heavily the glaciers are covered with debris," says the ETH.
In the 1920s and 1980s, the mass of individual glaciers increased and individual glacier advances occurred.
ani/dpa
