After one of the glacier’s worst summers, snow began to fall in the Swiss Alps, something that was wanted.
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Neil Entwistle, Professor of River Science and Climate Resilience at the University of Salford, has been visiting the region for 19 years of studies and, according to him, never seen a summer like 2022, when the change in glacier characteristics was “impressive”.
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Entwistle and other glaciologists call the annual loss of ice, about 2% of the glacier’s total volume, “extreme.” In 2022, Swiss glaciers lost an average of 6.2% of their ice.
The new snowflakes will form a shield to protect and reflect 90% of the sun’s radiation back into the atmosphere and reduce global warming and melting ice.
When the snow falls during the winter and then does not melt during the summer, it increases the mass of the glacier. Over the course of a similar few years, gravity will take over and the glaciers will start advancing down the slopes.
However, in the last century, this was not quite what happened. The protective layers of ice were not thick enough to contain the hot summer temperatures, and on average, glaciers around the world had been weakening since the end of the Little Ice Age in the mid to late 19th century.
Sahara desert sand and a strong heat wave
Back in the summer of 2022, across the Alps, the previous winter had seen little snow, so the glaciers weren’t well isolated from the upcoming summer melt season.
Spring was particularly harsh as natural weather patterns in the atmosphere carried dust from the desert into Europe and blanketed the Alpine landscape.
Because dust absorbs more solar energy than snow (which is white and therefore more reflective), the orange-colored snow has melted faster than ever.
Then the big heat wave broke temperature records across Europe, with parts of the UK reaching 40 degrees Celsius for the first time. The Alps were not spared.
For example, Zermatt, the famous car-free Swiss village, recorded temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius despite its altitude of 1,620 meters above sea level. Glaciers were severely affected.
In July, the Alps looked the same as in September: no snow, with icy rivers flowing at their peak, which is unusual.
The last time the glaciers experienced a severe melt season was in 2003, when temperatures were once again very high across Europe and a heat wave killed at least 30,000 people (more than 14,000 in France alone). That year, 3.8% of the glacial ice melted across Switzerland.
This year, for the first time, Zermatt has finished its summer skiing. The guides stopped leading excursions in the high mountains because the permafrost – the frozen ground that holds rocks together – was thawing and causing almost permanent rockfall. Mont Blanc is closed.
50 years of data collected
We can put this in historical context thanks to the philanthropic work of the Alpine Glacier Charitable Project, which was established in 1972 and, in collaboration with the University of Salford, where Entwistle operates, has led scientific expeditions to the glaciers near Zermatt every summer for 50 years.
Dozens of students helped observe the effect of a warming climate by chemically monitoring changes in meltwater, surveying landscapes and taking photographs of the same situation over the years.
In the project’s five decades, the Gorner and Wendel glaciers have retreated by 1,385 meters and 1,655 meters, respectively.
In Switzerland, this glacial meltwater is used for hydroelectric power. In fact, the water that falls on 93% of Switzerland ends up passing through at least one power plant before it leaves the country.
Thus, one consequence is that melting glaciers helps offset reduced rainfall in times of drought, filling reservoirs to provide nations with energy supplies.
However, it is partly true that not all glaciers were equally affected by this summer’s catastrophic retreat and ice loss.
How much a glacier melts depends on the altitude at which it is located, how steep the tongue of the glacier is, and how heavy it is covered by debris. There may also be local climatic factors.
However, newly published research shows that Austrian glaciers also lost ice sheets in 2022 over 70 years of observations, so it’s clear that extreme melting was the norm in 2022.
“Visiting and seeing the geography of high mountain environments is an amazing experience, but my fear is that the continued melting of ice and extreme temperatures seen this year are not an anomaly. Many glaciers could be completely lost within one generation,” Entwistle warned.
with information from Science alert And the Conversation
Featured image: A.Pushkin / Shutterstock
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