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Switzerland’s glaciers lost 2.5% of their volume to melting this summer despite a heavy snowfall that should have given them extra protection from the heat.
Experts said “very high” temperatures were compounded by the heat-absorbing effect of reddish-yellow dust that blew north from the Sahara Desert, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
“August saw the greatest loss of ice recorded since measurements began,” the Swiss Academy of Sciences said in a statement summarizing the findings.
The disturbing development came after Switzerland, home to more glaciers than any other European country, saw their total volume shrink 4% last year following a record 6% decline in 2022.
“The retreat of the glacier tongues and their disintegration continue unabated as a result of climate change,” the academy said.
Conditions were “extremely favorable” for the glaciers through June because this past winter’s snowfall exceeded the seasonal average by 30%, according to academy.
But experts at the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland network (GLAMOS) said the snow completely disappeared on more than half of the glaciers it tracked, AP said.
The peaks of several, including Plaine Morte and Gries in the south and Silvretta in the east, reportedly dropped at least a meter, which is equivalent to about 3.3 feet.
