Alps’ glaciers melting at record pace following heatwave: Report

Record-breaking heatwaves across Europe is making the Alps glaciers melt at an astonishing rate. According to a data shared exclusively with Reuters, the glacial mass is on track for their highest losses in at least 60 years of record keeping.

Since the mild winters of last year, the Alps have had two intense early summer heatwaves, with one in July bringing temperatures as high as 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) in the Swiss mountain village of Zermatt.

"It's really obvious that this is an extreme season," Swiss glaciologist Andreas Linsbauer told Reuters.

Mountain glaciers have a fragile ecosystem, as warmer temperatures can trigger glacial loss. The European Alps are especially vulnerable because they are smaller with relatively little ice cover.

The temperatures in the Alps have been warming at around 0.3C per decade, around twice as fast as the global average, according to Reuters.Hence the massive loss of ice cover has alarmed many.

According to a 2019 report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Alps glaciers could lose more than 80 per cent of their current mass by 2100, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.

Matthias Huss, who leads Glacier Monitoring Switzerland, told Reuters that the dire situation this year has caused concern that the Alps' glaciers might shrink sooner than expected.

"We are seeing model results expected a few decades in the future are happening now…I did not expect to see such an extreme year so early in the century,” he was quoted as saying.

The changes are already visible. Glaciologists in Austria, France, and Italy said that glaciers there were on track for record losses.

Andrea Fischer, a glaciologist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, said the glaciers there “are snow-free up to the summits.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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