The glaciers of the Swiss Alps suffered a "devastating" year due to intense heat waves and a lack of snow, resulting in a reduction in their volume of more than 5 percent, experts said Thursday. This is the second largest annual loss recorded since 1950. "Intense heat waves between May and September, combined with a winter of little snowfall, led to another devastating year for the glaciers," explained the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (Glamos).
The organization specified that the freezing level rose above 4.000 meters in a record 76 days during these months, more than double the average. In September, it continued, there was no snow left even at 3.500 meters above sea level. "Alpine glaciers have no chance of long-term survival under these conditions," it warned, noting that the volume of ice in Swiss glaciers has decreased by almost 20 percent in the last five years.
Between July and September, the glaciers lost about 2,2 trillion liters of water in total, exceeding by four times the annual drinking water consumption of all Swiss households.
