A record heat wave, still affecting parts of Europe, has caused "extreme" ice loss in the Alps, with human remains and aircraft as glaciers recede. Exposing wreckage.
Two sets of unidentified bodies were found by hikers in Switzerland.
It contains bones found near a disused trail near Cheshen Glacier, believed to belong to climbers who died in the 1970s or 80s, according to local guides. A body was found last week on the Stokzi glacier. Near the resort of Zermatt.
A DNA analysis is underway to help police identify the corpse. Since the mid-1920s, the Alps police have maintained a list of people known to have gone missing in the mountains, and there are now about 300 names on the list.
The current heat wave is causing glaciers to melt far faster than scientists expected, researchers warn.
Two consecutive summers of low-level winter snowfall and summer heat waves across the continent left the ice particularly vulnerable, resulting inglaciers at least We are well on our way to maximum mass loss in a year. 60 years.
Record-high freezing points have been recorded over the Alps in recent weeks,warning video of destabilizing giant ice breakup is being filmed. melting glacier. Meanwhile, blankets have been used in many places to insulate glaciers from additional heat.
Thinning ice and snow even revealed the wreckage of the plane known to have crashed in 1968, killing three of him. The bodies were recovered after the crash, but the wreckage has remained embedded in Switzerland's Aletsch Glacier ever since.
"There is no doubt that this summer's heat wave has exposed the winter snow from glaciers much earlier than would normally be expected," said Duncan Quincy, professor of glaciology at the University of Leeds. told The Independent. }
While temperatures in many European countries topped 40 degrees Celsius last month, the mountain village of Zermatt in Switzerland, 1,600 meters above sea level, hit a record high of 30 degrees Celsius.
In addition to record summer temperatures, the lack of snowfall during the winter plays an important role in the melting of glaciers.
"The effects of dry winters and hot summers are devastating many of Europe's glaciers," Professor Quincey said.
"The effect is that glacier ice is exposed to radiation for a longer period of time, so the melting during this year's ablation period will be much greater than we have observed in recent years.
Blankets covering snow to prevent it from melting on the melting Zanfleuron glacier above Les Diablerets, Switzerland
(AFP via Getty Images)
"Glacier ice tends to absorb more radiation than snow because of its lower albedo [reflectance]. , implying that additional melting would be further enhanced compared to if the snow blanket had been preserved until later in the season.”
Swiss glaciologist Reuters 50}, he said, "I didn't expect to see a year as extreme as this at the beginning of this century."
Around the world, mountain glaciers left behind by the last pieces of ice remainAge recedes as the climate crisis worsens
In the Alps, Glaciers are particularly endangered. They are smaller than those in other regions. Moreover, temperatures in the Alps have been rising by about 0.3C in he ten years, about twice as fast as the global average.
Mount Oldenhorn
next to the melting Zanfleuron glacier in Switzerland on August 6, 2022 (AFP via Getty Images)
"They are already in deep recession, and extremes like the one we're seeing now will cause more ice mass than numerical models predicted. is accelerating its decline," Professor Quincy said.
"By 2100, largely ice-free landscapes are likely, even without considering the increase in extreme events over the next few decades."
He said that the current situation offers insight into how the climate crisis is increasing the frequency and intensity of high-level melting, and that "glacial life spans compare favorably with what current models tend to show."
Previous studies have shown that rapid ice loss from mountain glaciers has a major impact on the irrigation used for large settlements. However, ice destabilization poses new threats, both from the collapse and the formation of unstable glacial lakes and depressions created by glaciers.
"We should all be concerned about the long-term effects of a meltdown," Professor Quincey said.
"As we have recently seen in boththe Italian Alps and Kyrgyzstan, the meltwater produced is
"This is the future we are facing if we do not address the climate crisis quickly."