World
Switzerland: Swiss glaciers under threat again as heat wave drives zero-temperature level to record altitude
GENEVA: The Swiss climate service mentioned Monday a warmth wave has pushed the zero-degree Celsius degree to its highest altitude since recordings on it in Switzerland started almost 70 years in the past, an ominous new signal for the nation’s vaunted glaciers.
MeteoSwiss says the zero-degree isotherm degree reached 5,298 meters (17,381 toes) above sea degree over Switzerland in a single day Sunday to Monday. All of Switzerland’s snow-capped Alpine peaks – the best being the 4,634-meter (15,203-foot) Monte Rosa summit – had air temperatures over zero Celsius (32 F) the place water freezes to ice, elevating prospects of a thaw.
Even Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain alongside the Italian-French border at some 4,809 meters (15,800 toes), is affected, the climate company mentioned based mostly on readings from its climate balloons.
The brand new excessive altitude eclipsed a earlier document set in July 2022, a 12 months that specialists say was significantly devastating for the glaciers of Switzerland. Readings have been taken on the zero-degree altitude degree since 1954.
“An exceptionally highly effective anticyclone and heat air of subtropical origin are presently making certain scorching climate over the nation,” MeteoSwiss mentioned on its web site, including that many measuring stations in Switzerland have set new temperature information within the second half of August.
MeteoSwiss meterologist Mikhael Schwander mentioned it marked solely the third time such readings had been tallied above 5,000 meters – and that the extent was typically round 3,500 to 4,000 meters in a typical summer time.
“With a zero-degree isotherm far above 5,000m (meters above sea degree), all glaciers within the Alps are uncovered to soften – as much as their highest altitudes,” mentioned Daniel Farinotti, a glaciologist on the federal technical college in Zurich, ETHZ, in an e-mail. “Such occasions are uncommon and detrimental to the glaciers’ well being, as they reside from snow being accrued at excessive altitudes.”
“If such circumstances persist in the long term, glaciers are set to be misplaced irreversibly,” he mentioned.
A Swiss examine final 12 months discovered that the nation’s 1,400-odd glaciers – probably the most in Europe – had misplaced greater than half their complete quantity for the reason that early Nineteen Thirties, together with a 12-percent decline over the earlier six years alone.
MeteoSwiss says the zero-degree isotherm degree reached 5,298 meters (17,381 toes) above sea degree over Switzerland in a single day Sunday to Monday. All of Switzerland’s snow-capped Alpine peaks – the best being the 4,634-meter (15,203-foot) Monte Rosa summit – had air temperatures over zero Celsius (32 F) the place water freezes to ice, elevating prospects of a thaw.
Even Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain alongside the Italian-French border at some 4,809 meters (15,800 toes), is affected, the climate company mentioned based mostly on readings from its climate balloons.
The brand new excessive altitude eclipsed a earlier document set in July 2022, a 12 months that specialists say was significantly devastating for the glaciers of Switzerland. Readings have been taken on the zero-degree altitude degree since 1954.
“An exceptionally highly effective anticyclone and heat air of subtropical origin are presently making certain scorching climate over the nation,” MeteoSwiss mentioned on its web site, including that many measuring stations in Switzerland have set new temperature information within the second half of August.
MeteoSwiss meterologist Mikhael Schwander mentioned it marked solely the third time such readings had been tallied above 5,000 meters – and that the extent was typically round 3,500 to 4,000 meters in a typical summer time.
“With a zero-degree isotherm far above 5,000m (meters above sea degree), all glaciers within the Alps are uncovered to soften – as much as their highest altitudes,” mentioned Daniel Farinotti, a glaciologist on the federal technical college in Zurich, ETHZ, in an e-mail. “Such occasions are uncommon and detrimental to the glaciers’ well being, as they reside from snow being accrued at excessive altitudes.”
“If such circumstances persist in the long term, glaciers are set to be misplaced irreversibly,” he mentioned.
A Swiss examine final 12 months discovered that the nation’s 1,400-odd glaciers – probably the most in Europe – had misplaced greater than half their complete quantity for the reason that early Nineteen Thirties, together with a 12-percent decline over the earlier six years alone.
